The article examines whether cultural groups tend to use supernatural beliefs more to explain natural phenomena or social phenomena. Analysis of ethnographic text from 114 diverse societies reveals that supernatural explanations are more common for natural phenomena, consistent with the theory that humans tend to perceive intent and agency in the natural world. However, supernatural explanations of social phenomena were more prevalent in urbanized societies with greater social complexity and anonymity. The study highlights how people use supernatural beliefs to explain their world and how this varies across small-scale and urbanized communities.

This study advances the status envy hypothesis of sex identification to explain customs such as male initiation ceremonies and the couvade. Theory of sex identification is discussed; resource withholding, exclusive mother-child sleeping, patrilocality, father absence, female status, and initiation are all considered. Hypotheses are supported with empirical tests.

Building on comparative study of the Mormons, Texans, and Zuni in the Rimrock area of Southwestern U.S., the authors cross-cultural test some hypotheses cross-culturally.

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.

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 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.