MATERNAL SEPARATION IN THE RHESUS MONKEY

Abstract

The present study involved separation of 8 monkey mother-infant pairs for a period of 2 weeks and measurement of the behavior of the infants before, during and after reunion with their mothers, and of the mothers before and after reunion. All infants showed emotional disturbance in response to separation and drastic decreases in play and other complex social behaviors while separated. It is clear that infant-mother separation produces emotional disturbance in both human and macaque infants and that the patterns of responses following separation are similar in both species. The results obtained in studies of monkey infant-mother separation indicate that sheer physical separation is the crucial aspect of maternal separation for monkeys. Undoubtedly other factors associated with separation from the mother are vitally important for human children, and may account in part for the absence or rarity of the detachment stage (as seen in human response pattern) in separated monkey infants. The overall results show considerable similarity in the responses of human children and infant monkeys to separation from the mother.