Wooddell Lauren J, Hamel Amanda F, Murphy Ashley M, Byers Kristen L, Kaburu Stefano S K, Meyer Jerrold S, Suomi Stephen J, Dettmer Amanda M
Neuroscience and Behavior, California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2017 Oct;84:109-115. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.06.018. Epub 2017 Jun 29.
Sociality is a fundamental aspect of human behavior and health. One benefit of affiliative social relationships is reduced short-term levels of glucocorticoids (GCs), which are indicative of physiological stress. Less is known, however, about chronic GC production in relation to affiliative social behavior. To address this issue, we studied a semi-free ranging troop of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) and collected hair samples to measure hair cortisol concentrations (HCCs), as a measure of chronic GC production, during routine biannual exams. We collected social behavior (both aggressive and affiliative) and hair samples for 32 adult female rhesus macaques over one year (Experiment 1). Our results indicated that adult females who initiated higher levels of social affiliation had significantly lower levels of HCCs. Neither the initiation nor the receipt of aggression were significantly related to HCCs in this study. In a second experiment we studied 28 mother-infant dyads for the first 90days postpartum to examine mother-infant facial interactions (i.e. mutual gazing). We analyzed HCCs during weaning approximately one year later, which is a major transitional period. We found that infants that engaged in higher levels of mutual gazing in the first 90days postpartum had significantly lower levels of HCCs during weaning. Finally, we studied 17 infant rhesus macaques (13 males) to examine whether social behavior (such as play) in the first five months of life correlated with infant HCCs over those months (Experiment 3). We found that infant males that engaged in more social play had significantly lower levels of HCCs. By relying on an animal model, our study shows that affiliative social traits are associated with lower long-term GC production. Future research should address the complex interactions between social behavior, chronic GC production, and mental and physical health.
社会性是人类行为和健康的一个基本方面。亲和性社会关系的一个好处是短期糖皮质激素（GCs）水平降低，这表明存在生理压力。然而，关于与亲和性社会行为相关的慢性GC产生，我们了解得较少。为了解决这个问题，我们研究了一群半放养的恒河猴（猕猴），并在常规的半年一次检查期间收集毛发样本，以测量毛发皮质醇浓度（HCCs），作为慢性GC产生的一种度量。我们在一年时间里收集了32只成年雌性恒河猴的社会行为（包括攻击性和亲和性）及毛发样本（实验1）。我们的结果表明，发起更高水平社会亲和行为的成年雌性HCCs水平显著更低。在本研究中，攻击性的发起或接受与HCCs均无显著关联。在第二个实验中，我们研究了28对母婴二元组产后的前90天，以检查母婴面部互动（即相互凝视）。我们在大约一年后的断奶期分析了HCCs，这是一个主要的过渡时期。我们发现，产后前90天进行更高水平相互凝视的婴儿在断奶期的HCCs水平显著更低。最后，我们研究了17只恒河猴幼崽（13只雄性），以检查生命前五个月的社会行为（如玩耍）是否与这些月份的幼崽HCCs相关（实验3）。我们发现，参与更多社会玩耍的雄性幼崽HCCs水平显著更低。通过依赖动物模型，我们的研究表明，亲和性社会特征与更低的长期GC产生相关。未来的研究应该探讨社会行为、慢性GC产生以及身心健康之间的复杂相互作用。
