This study examines the treatment of the aged in different societies. Support was found for the hypothesis that the amount information controlled by the aged is positively associated with the degree of esteem in which they are held by other members of the society.

This chapter examines correlates of gerontrocide. Previously suggested predictors, such as nomadism and harsh climate, were not found to be associated with gerontrocide, but data suggested that several other variables such as social stratification, subsistence type, and rule of descent, are significant predictors.

The relationship between restrictions on premarital sex and the privacy of sexual practices is examined, using the degree of impenetrability of house materials as both a proxy and assumed cause for "offstage" or private sex. The author theorizes that permissive premarital sex norms are a response to open dwelling types which are themselves an adaptation to warm temperatures.

This article tests the effect of environmental risk on parental investment, differentiating between maternal and paternal care. Results indicate that the saturation point of parental investment may be a function of environmental risk, as parental care experiences diminishing returns due to extrinsic risks.

This study examines the relationship between pairbonds and lactation, specifically the relationship between pairbond stability, alloparenting, and cross-cultural trends in breastfeeding. Findings show that both conjugal stability and availability of alloparental care are associated with age at weaning.

This study tests a broad "risk response" hypothesis: environmental risk can reduce parents' involvement and care which, through its effects on children's behavioral strategies later in life, ultimately produces a larger cultural model favoring risky behavior. Examinations of extramarital sex, aggression, theft, and witchcraft support this hypothesis, leading the authors to suggest that child development is the underpinning of cultural adaptation in the face of environmental change.

Possible explanations for human pair-bonding are discussed: provisioning, breastfeeding, alloparenting, subsistence complementarity, and mating competition, male aggression, men’s show-off work, socioecological variation, and child development are all considered. The author does not conduct empirical analyses, but reviews primate comparisons, earlier cross-cultural analyses, and ethnographic case studies.

This study tests three hypotheses on the evolution of the human pair-bond: male-provisioning, male mating competition, and the defense of offspring from other males. Findings indicate that male provisioning and mating competition are factors in the development of the pair-bond. Additional findings indicate that alloparentling, polygyny, and equal contribution to subsistence by each sex contribute to the security of the pair-bond.

The myths, legends, and folktales of nearby groups tend to more alike than those of more distant groups. Three competing models attempt to explain this distribution of cultural traits: (1) vertical transmission, (2) horizontal transmission, and (3) independent innovation. The authors examine 18 Arctic hunter-gatherer groups to quantify the extent to which geographic distance, cultural ancestry, and effective population size predict overlap in folktale inventories.

This article compares the relative importance of the sun vs. the moon for a world-wide sample of societies. The contexts in which the sun and the moon are found important are also compared.