Regularities and diversity in developmental pathways: Mother-infant relationships in hamadryas baboons

• Published in: Developmental psychobiology Vol. 47; no. 4; pp. 297 - 317
• Main Authors: Hernández-Lloreda, María Victoria, Colmenares, Fernando
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.12.2005
• Subjects: Animals; Animals, Suckling - growth & development; Animals, Suckling - psychology; Animals, Zoo - growth & development; Animals, Zoo - psychology; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Biometry; change; developmental pathways; diversity; Female; growth curve analysis; hamadryas baboon; Male; Maternal Behavior; mother-infant relationships; Papio; Papio hamadryas - growth & development; Papio hamadryas - psychology; Papio hamadryas hamadryas; regularities; Social Environment
• ISSN: 0012-1630; 1098-2302
• DOI: 10.1002/dev.20104

Change, stasis, stability, discontinuity, orderliness, and diversity are all potential characteristics of developmental systems. This study uses multilevel modeling to characterize the normative developmental pathways of the early social relationships of 23 mother–infant pairs embedded in a multilayered colony of hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas hamadryas). The relationships were assessed by means of 27 behavioral measures that were collected during 100–220 focal sampling sessions per infant, from birth to 380 days of age (25 two‐week age intervals). Seventy four percent of the behavioral measures exhibited an age‐related pattern. Infant age, however, was not predictive of the rate of the behaviors relating to the management of mother–infant conflicts. This study provides empirical evidence that the development of mother–infant relationships may involve periods of change and stasis, overall orderliness, and diversity as well as canalization of developmental pathways. We believe that growth curve analysis can be useful to tackle various hot issues in the study of behavioral development. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 47: 297–317, 2005.