This book discusses the characteristics of adolescence cross-culturally and examines the differences in the adolescent experience for males and females. Several relationships are tested in order to gain an understanding of cross-cultural patterns in adolescence.

This study uses "rules of combination" to describe internal order in social groups. The author examines kinship structure, and specifically the relationship of the mother's brother towards the son. Results support the hypothesis.

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.

Using phylogenetic comparative methods, the study explores the evolution of kinship terminologies within 176 societies in Austronesian, Bantu, and Uto-Aztecan language families. The authors consider 18 theories in the anthropological record that suggests that change in kinship terminologies is predicted by some social structures: marriage, residence, and descent. Only 19 of the 29 statistical hypotheses are supported, while none of the theories are supported in all three language families. This statistical irregularity means that the results are lineage-specific, instead of showing a universal driver of change in kinship terminology types.

This book examines male and female power in various kinship configurations. Variables for male dominance and female autonomy are associated with various political and social variables, such as political complexity and co-wife jealousy. Several hypotheses are supported.

Using an evolutionary perspective, this study tests hypotheses relating gender and kinship roles to the amount of direct and indirect care provided during and around childbirth. The roles of paternal certainty, residence rules and descent groups are also examined.

Explores 109 traits relating primarily to physical habitat, economy, political and social organization, and religion, to see how they relate to the role and treatment of the aged. General patterns were sought. Numerous ethnographic examples are given.

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 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.

In this study, the authors analyze relationships between witchcraft accusations and the gender of the accused. They find that men are most often accused of witchcraft in their sample of 54 Bantu or Bantoid societies, and are particularly more likely to be accused of witchcraft by unrelated or blood-related individuals or in disputes over wealth or prestige. On the other hand, women are more likely to be accused of witchcraft in affinal relationships, particularly husbands and co-wives, and in situations related to fertility or relationships. Elderly women were also more likely to be accused of witchcraft than elderly men. The authors also examined outcomes of witchcraft accusations, finding that 81% of cases resulted in a negative outcome for the accused. They suggest that competition underlies accusations of witchcraft.