Researchers examine post-marital residence patterns across five language phylogenies encompassing 371 ethnolinguistic groups. These language families are the Austronesian (Island Southeast Asia and the Pacific), Bantu (Sub-Saharan Africa), Indo-European (Eurasia), Pama-Nyungan (Australia), and Uto-Aztecan (Western USA and Mesoamerica). Contrary to the study's predictions, post-marital residence patterns did not evolve in similar ways across geographical regions but at a pace specific to its lineage.

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.

The complex set of beliefs and practices in which the cult of the guardian spirit consisted is examined.

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

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.