Sampling 62 societies from the HRAF database (32 bilateral, 21 patrilineal, 6 matrilineal, and 3 double-unilineal societies)the author asks whether divorce rates can be predicted by the descent systems or the network of marriage affiliations. Findings do not support the theory that divorce rates will be predicted by descent (patrilineal vs bilateral) - but they are more consistent with the idea that conjunctive affiliations are predictive of low divorce rates in bilateral societies. In lineal societies the levirate is used as an indicator.

This paper reports on a cross-cultural test of the theory that higher status of women causes higher divorce rates. This theory has typically been expressed in terms of variations in family authority or in terms of women's economic opportunities (375).

Textor summarizes cross-cultural findings on polygyny pertaining to cultural, environmental, psychological, and social phenomena.

This paper describes a typology which is intended to indicate the kinds of family and kinship structures associated with the conflicting requirements of cohesion and differentiation of broader social structures.

This study focuses on predictors of divorce, cross-culturally. Variables measuring infidelity, infertility, personality, economy, kin, absence, health, ritual and politics are tested. An evolutionary/adaptionist approach is found to be most useful in explaining the nature of conjugal dissolution cross-culturally.

This study focuses on the relationship between women's power/status and divorce. Tests of gender variables with measures of divorce highlights the importance of sexual equality in divorce frequency as well as the effect of division of labor on divorce.

This book examines social, cultural, biological and psychological aspects of human sexuality. Sex and reproduction are both discussed in depth. Empirical analysis is included throughout, and an integrated model of sexuality is discussed. Only a few selected hypotheses are entered here.

This paper is concerned with the variation in sexual behavior in humans. Authors test hypotheses regarding the relationships between sexual behaviors and beliefs concerning sex.

This book examines population growth rate and its correlates by testing 274 hypotheses (derived from multiple theories) with an 18-society sample. Forty-one of these hypotheses were significant at the .05 level, leading the author to accept these relationships as reflective of the real world. The 274 hypotheses are grouped into 51 broader hypotheses, and marked by (*) where relationships are significant as designated by the author or by significance p < 0.05.

This article focuses on parents’ investment of material resources at the time of their child’s marriage. Two patterns emerge from the data: wealth is generally transferred from the groom’s family to the bride’s and from the couple’s parents to the bride and groom. Social and ecological factors are also examined. Multiple regression analysis shows that paternal confidence level, societal polygyny rate, and level of pathogen stress can affect the aforementioned wealth transfer patterns.