This study tests the relationship between menstrual taboos and castration anxiety. The author posits that the extensiveness of menstrual taboos is determined by the average castration anxiety. Using various measures of castration anxiety, the author finds significant support for this hypothesis.

The author attempts to test the "Oedipus-complex" hypothesis--the psychoanalytic idea that under certain conditions (such as the long-post partum sex taboo) males are sexually attracted to their mothers and as a consequence certain fears and anxiety are generaated. The hypothesis is tested at the societal-level using ethnographic data.

This book is a comprehensive cross-cultural survey of family customs described by anthropologists. It asks about the range and frequency of variation, how the customs compare with American families, and the associations between traits. The author includes many qualitative descriptions in describing variation.

The authors test the male Oedipus complex hypothesis with a prediction suggesting that the scale of kin-avoidance is related to "a phobic attitude towards incest" (129).