Personal grooming

Grooming plays a particularly important role in forming social bonds in many primate species, such as chacma baboons and wedge-capped capuchins.

[5] In research conducted by Holly Nelson (from the University of New Hampshire), individuals who chose their romantic partner reported more mutual grooming than others who focused in other types of relationships.

Hence, this study hypothesized that mutual grooming related to relationship satisfaction, trust and previous experience of affection within the family.

In the same investigation, researchers found that individuals with more promiscuous attitudes and those who scored high on the anxiety sub-scale on an adult attachment style measure tend to groom their partners more frequently.

[6] A recent empirical study by Seinenu Thein-Lemelson (University of California, Berkeley) utilized an ethological approach to examine cross-cultural differences in human grooming as it pertains to caregiving behaviors.

Naturalistic data was collected through video focal follows with children during routine activities and then coded for grooming behaviors.