Primate evidence on the late health effects of early-life adversity

Abstract

This paper exploits a unique ongoing experiment to analyze the effects of early rearing conditions on physical and mental health in a sample of rhesusmonkeys (Macacamulatta).Weanalyze the health records of 231 monkeys thatwere randomly allocated at birth across three rearing conditions:mother rearing, peer rearing, and surrogate peer rearing.We show that the lack of a secure attachment relationship in the early years engendered by adverse rearing conditions has detrimental long-term effects on health that are not compensated for by a normal social environment later in life.