This study examines several predictors of female status in public decision making. The author hypothesizes that paternal nurturance will be positively associated with female status. Although results suggest that a male dominated social structure is the strongest predictor, paternal nurturance also significantly contributes to variance in female status.

This article presents an analysis of predictors of displays of manliness, women's inferiority, deference to men, and dominance of wives.

The present study examines 60 societies from the Probability Sample Files to see if there is a cross-cultural moral valence of seven cooperative behaviors. These behaviors include: being brave, deferring to superiors, dividing disputed resources, helping kin, helping your group, reciprocating, and respecting prior possessions. The results offer support for the theory of morality-as-cooperation that these seven behaviors tend to be widely held morals across cultures.

Information from the archaeological record from 9 culture areas was used to explore the influence of human insecurities on the rate of depopulation in the U.S. Southwest and Mexican Northwest region during the 1300 to 1400s. The authors found that as the sum of human insecurities increased in culture areas, the speed of depopulation also increased. They hope to relate these findings to modern sustainability planning and to advocate with the UN Development Programme for increased human security.

This study explores predictors of variation in two dimensions of marital residence patterns among hunter-gatherers: 1) the tendency toward patrilocality versus matrilocality and 2) the tendency toward unilocality versus bilocality.

The present research investigates food sharing and labor sharing practices of 98 nonindustrial societies. The aims are to: 1) document the frequency and scope of sharing, and 2) test the theory that greater sharing is adaptive in societies subject to more resource stress (including natural hazards).

This article uses the Standard Cross-Cultural Samples to test the relationship between disease and economic growth among sub-Saharan African societies. The authors suggest that a higher disease prevalence limits social integration and economic development since pre-colonial times. The variable measuring economic growth is the complexity of large or impressive structures. The hypotheses are that 1) pathogen stress is negatively correlated to the presence of complex buildings, and 2) pathogen stress is positively correlated to increased ethnic diversity. The results support both hypotheses, and there are additional results, like 1) the negative correlation between pathogen stress and current income per capita and 2) the negative correlation between the increased ethnic diversity and current income per capita. Overall, this article shows the robust relationship between disease and economic development.

This study relates the type of games present in a society to the level of cultural complexity. Authors use a "game-type combination scale" that categorizes societies as having: 1) games of physical skill only; 2) games of physical skill and games of chance; and 3) games of physical skill, games of chance, and games of strategy. Results show a relationship between the game-type combination scale and indicators of cultural complexity.

This article considers the consequences of modernization. Factor analysis is used to identify four stages of modernization: 1) changes in education, government, and trade; 2) changes in health, technology, and transportation; 3) changes in family, religion, and toilet; and 4) changes in behavior. The authors then consider five trends they expect to be associated with modernization and test whether they develop over the course of the four stages. Results indicate that these 5 trends—increased cultural complexity, female status, pacification, suicide, and social stress—are associated with only the first and fourth stages.

This article investigates a cultural patterning of altered states of consciousness. The authors use an ordinal variable for a society's trance type; its four levels are 1) trance, 2) trance and possession trance, 3) possession trance, and 4) neither type. Results suggest that trance type is associated with measures of societal complexity and subsistence economy. Regional differences and the effects of diffusion are also examined.