DOI: 10.5061/dryad.q2bvq83r9
title: The relationship of coping style and social support variation to glucocorticoid metabolites in wild olive baboons (Papio anubis)

description: Social support, via investment in relationships of importance with others,
 is often emphasized as a pathway towards mediating stress. The
 effectiveness of social support, however, can be altered by personality
 differences, but the physiological consequences of such covariation are
 still poorly explored. How do individual differences in the functioning of
 the stress response system mediate access to, and use of, social support?
 To examine this dynamic, we investigated glucocorticoids as a biomarker of
 energetic activation that may also be activated by chronic psychosocial
 stress. For this purpose, we studied a wild anthropoid primate, i.e. the
 olive baboon (Papio anubis), for 17 months, in Laikipia District, Kenya.
 We measured biomarkers of energetic activation, i.e., fecal glucocorticoid
 metabolites (fGCms), to address whether individual differences in stress
 coping and social support were associated with variation in hormone levels
 across a period from 2018 to 2019. We found evidence for an association
 between social support and fGCm concentrations. This association had a
 discernable interaction between sex and social support: we found a
 negative association in male baboons, relative to females—who did not have
 a pronounced effect. Our findings emphasize the importance of social
 support in male baboons. The cost of not having diverse bonds, has been
 downplayed in male baboons.
description: Data were collected from two groups of in situ (wild) olive
 baboons, in Laikipia, Kenya. An experimental paradigm was used to collect
 coping style scores over a 17-month period; behavioral observations were
 collected with focal follows and ad libitum sampling, over a 17-month
 period; fecal samples were collected over a nine month period; daily
 rainfall and min/max temperature were collected each day that fecal
 sampling was ongoing. Shannon Weiner's Diversity Indices as a metric
 of social support calculated based on grooming dynamics across the
 relevant project period. Rank was calculated from social displacements.
 Rainfall and temperature were averaged across the two days, relative to
 each fecal sample's collection. Fecal sample hormones were extracted
 and assayed using RIAs. More details are in the associated
 manuscript.
description: # The relationship of coping style and social support variation to
 glucocorticoid metabolites in wild olive baboons (Papio anubis) Alexander
 J. Pritchard, Erin R. Vogel, Rosemary A. Blersch, Ryne A. Palombit Data
 were collected from two groups of in situ (wild) olive baboons, in
 Laikipia, Kenya. An experimental paradigm was used to collect coping style
 scores over a 17-month period; behavioral observations were collected with
 focal follows and ad libitum sampling, over a 17-month period; fecal
 samples were collected over a nine month period; daily rainfall and
 min/max temperature were collected each day that fecal sampling was
 ongoing. Shannon Weiner's Diversity Indices as a metric of social
 support calculated based on grooming dynamics across the relevant project
 period. Rank was calculated from social displacements. Rainfall and
 temperature were averaged across the two days, relative to each fecal
 sample's collection. Fecal sample hormones were extracted and assayed
 using RIAs. More details are in the associated manuscript. ## Description
 of the data and file structure There are multiple columns, each line is a
 unique fecal sample. Some items are tied to the fecal sample (e.g.,
 Metabolites.Conc, MAXAvg), while other values are tied to the IDs
 themselves (e.g., Coping, SWDIgr). Columns are: (untitled first column)
 & X = sequential row identifiers; id = subject identifier (initials);
 MAXAvg = maximum daily temperature in Celsius, averaged for the 2 days
 prior to fecal sample collection; MINAvg = minimum daily temperature in
 Celsius, averaged for the 2 days prior to fecal sample collection; RainAvg
 = daily rainfall in mm, averaged for the 2 days prior to fecal sample
 collection; Date = Date of sample collection in YYYY-MM-DD; Time = time of
 sample collection in HH:MM:SS AM/PM; RunDate = Run date of sample in
 DD-Mon.; Metabolites.Conc = fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentration
 in a fecal sample, adjusted by weight (ng/g); RankProp = proportional
 social dominance rank of ID; Sex = sex of the animal subject; Group.1 =
 social group of the animal subject (K = Kati Kati, S = Shire); Coping =
 coping style score of the animal subject; SWDIgr = Shannon Weiner's
 diversity index for grooming of the subject; Strg = social grooming
 network out-strength; Deg = social grooming network out-degree. NAs
 signify data that are 'not available' as they were not sampled.
 There is a single *.csv file with the dataset used, in addition to R code
 for the relevant statistical models. ## Sharing/Access information Please
 cite the original source of these data. ## Code/Software See the R file
 for further details regarding analysis and procedure Accessible using the
 R programming language and a *.csv reader, such as Excel or LibreOffice
 Calc.