Social Inequalities in Health in Nonhuman Primates

This book provides a comprehensive look atnonhuman primate social inequalities as models for health differences associated with socioeconomic status in humans. The benefit of the socially-housedmonkey model is that it provides the complexity of hierarchical structure andrank affiliation, i.e. both negative and positive aspects of social status. Atthe same time, nonhuman primates are more amenable to controlled experimentsand more invasive studies that can be used inhuman beings toexamine the effects of low status on brain development, neuroendocrinefunction, immunity, and eating behavior. Because all of these biological andbehavioral substrates form the underpinnings of human illness, and are likelyshared among primates, the nonhuman primate model can significantly advance ourunderstanding of the best interventions in humans.