This book provides a comprehensive look at
nonhuman primate social inequalities as models for health differences associated with socioeconomic status in humans. The benefit of the socially-housed
monkey model is that it provides the complexity of hierarchical structure and
rank affiliation, i.e. both negative and positive aspects of social status. At
the same time, nonhuman primates are more amenable to controlled experiments
and more invasive studies that can be used in
human beings to
examine the effects of low status on brain development, neuroendocrine
function, immunity, and eating behavior. Because all of these biological and
behavioral substrates form the underpinnings of human illness, and are likely
shared among primates, the nonhuman primate model can significantly advance our
understanding of the best interventions in humans.