‘Middle-management’ monkeys suffer human-like stress

MIDDLE-HIERARCHY monkeys suffer just as much as their middle-management counterparts in the human world, research suggests.

Experts observing monkeys found those in the middle hierarchy were the most stressed.

Social conflict caused high levels of stress hormones in the primates and the authors of the study said this could explain why middle managers suffer the most stress at work.

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They said middle-management often strives for the higher-ranking lifestyle while looking over lower-ranking workers, which creates more challenges and stress. Study leader Dr Susanne Shultz, of Manchester University’s Faculty of Life Sciences, said that the results recorded could also be applied to human behaviour. “It’s possible to apply these findings to other social species too, including human hierarchies,” she said yesterday.