The relationship of coping style and social support variation to glucocorticoid metabolites in wild olive baboons (Papio anubis)

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. 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. # 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.