This paper tests the proximity hypothesis (used by Murdock [1949]) which posits that residential propinquity will be associated with parent-in-law avoidance and kin terminology. Several operational hypotheses are tested but none are supported. The author suggests that this finding may cast doubt other hypotheses that underlie Murdock’s findings, such as the participation hypothesis.

This study re-examines patterns of cross-sex kin relationships using new ethnographic data. The author looks specifically at cross-sex kin relationship in relation to marriage rules.

This paper examines the behavior between close kin and affines of the opposite sex. The authors "point to certain differences between continental areas that are related to specific social factors, including the structure of descent groups and the nature of marriage arrangements."

Using paternal investment theory, the authors examine the relationship between paternal confidence and paternal investment in humans.

This book examines naming practices cross-culturally. The author posits that naming practices help to both reflect and create conceptions of personal identity. Several correlations between name meanings and practices and various sociocultural variables are presented.

This article examines parent-in-law avoidance in non-industrial societies. The author suggests that in-law avoidance is associated with characteristics of kinship structure, such as lineality, residence and family type. A psychological interpretation is also offered. Results support hypotheses relating to kinship structure.

This article re-examines previous hypotheses by Tylor regarding kin avoidance behavior. The author tests hypotheses on a sample of North American societies that accounts for genetic language families. Results provide partial support for hypotheses.

This article examines mother-in-law avoidance, theorizing it is "a device for distinguishing the son-in-law/mother-in-law relationship from the husband-wife relationship in societies where these relationships tend to be similar as far as their economic aspect is concerned” (71). The conditions that may give rise to economic interaction between son-in-law and mother-in-law, such as matrilocal residence, are also discussed.

The author analyzes the association between joking behavior and four types of instutionalized potential marriage relationships. Results show a tendency for a joking relationship to occur in all cases.

The theoretical concern of this work is with different types of liability that societies emphasize in their legal systems and how that plays out in understanding the transition from childhood to adolescence as well as variation in incest taboos.