Intergenerational transmission of maternal rejection rates among free-ranging rhesus monkeys

Abstract

This paper describes evidence for the intergenerational transmission of one aspect of maternal style, rejection rates, among free-ranging rhesus monkeys, Macaca mulatta. Rejection rates for individual mothers were both reasonably consistent from infant to infant and similar to those of their own mothers. Although rates differed significantly between matrilines, those of individual females more closely resembled those of their mothers than those of other maternal kin. Preliminary data suggest that adult daughters' scores were more similar to those they observed their mothers apply to their younger siblings than those they experienced directly as infants. Association with the mother after infancy may play an important role in the transmission of rejection rates from mothers to daughters.