Pergamon Child Abuse & Neglect, Vol. 21, No. 5, pp. 465-471, 1997 Copyright © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0145-2134/97 $17.00 + .00 PII S0145-2134(97) 00006-9 INFANT ABUSE RUNS IN FAMILIES OF GROUP- LIVING PIGTAIL MACAQUES DARIO MAESTRIPIERI AND KIM WALLEN Department of Psychology and Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA KELLY A. CARROLL School of Education and Human Sciences, Berry College, Mount Berry, GA, USA Abstract---Objective: The aims of this study were to investigate genealogical and demographic influences on maternal abuse and neglect of offspring in pigtail macaques and identify some maternal and infant characteristics that may be risk factors for abuse or neglect. Method: Infant abuse and neglect were investigated in five large families of group-living pigtail macaques over a period of 33 years (5-7 generations). The data were obtained from the Animal Records of the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center. Results: Abuse and neglect are likely to be two distinct phenomena in pigtail macaques. Neglect was mostly limited to tirst-born and newborn infants. Abuse was more likely to occur in some families than in others, and within abusive families, it was more likely to occur among closely-related females than among distantly-related females. Infants whose siblings had previously been abused were themselves especially at risk of abuse. Maternal health and infant sex were not risk factors for abuse. Conclusions: This study provides the first evidence of genealogical effects on infant abuse in nonhuman primates. Several characteristics of infant abuse in socially living macaques suggest that this phenomenon could represent a good animal model for studying the etiology of child abuse and neglect. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd Key Words--Infant abuse, Intergenerational transmission, Nonhuman primates, Animal models. INTRODUCTION IN RECENT YEARS little research has been conducted with animal models of child abuse and neglect. The studies of rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) "motherless mothers" conducted by Harlow and colleagues reported that females separated from their mothers at birth and reared in social isolation were subsequently likely to neglect or abuse their infants (Harlow & Seay, 1966; Ruppenthal, Arling, Harlow, Sackett, & Suomi, 1976). The observation of rhesus motherless mothers suggested that lack of contact with conspecifics during development, and in particular lack of opportunity to learn mothering skills from adult models, was an important determinant of infant abuse and neglect. A number of other primate studies, however, suggested that infant abuse and neglect were more likely to result from the restricted housing conditions This research was supported by grants from the Biomedical Resources Foundation (Houston, TX), the H. F. Guggen- heim Foundation (NY), and NIMH (MH56328) to the first author; NIMH grants MH50268 and MH01062 to the second author; and NIH grant RR-00165 to the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center (which is fully accredited by the American Association for Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care). Received for publication July 26, 1996; final revision received November 8, 1996; accepted November 11, 1996. Requests for reprints should be sent to Dr. Dario Maestripieri, Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, Emory University, 2409 Taylor Lane, Lawrenceville, GA 30243. 465