Does the early social environment affect structure and consistency of personality in wild-type male rats?

Animal personality has been extensively studied from a functional and evolutionary point of view. Less attention has been paid to the development of personality, its phenotypic plasticity, and the influence of manipulation of early environmental factors. Here we describe the effects of manipulating the sex ratio of the litter, at postnatal day (pnd) 3, in wild-type rats, on personality traits in adulthood. We measured the treatment effects on aggression, defensive burying, and open field behavior at pnd 90 and 120, as well as on their contextual generality, and stability over time (differential and structural consistency). Main effects of litter composition were found on open field behavior at pnd 120 but not on the other behaviors. Since correlations between behaviors changed over time irrespective of the specific treatment, whereas in previous studies on unmanipulated litters this was not the case we suggest that early handling may disrupt adult personality traits. Overall the data indicate that personality is less stable over time that often assumed, having both proximate and ultimate implications. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 53: 614-623, 2011