Adolescent initiation ceremonies are examined with regard to features of subsistence economy and social organization and differences among male and female ceremonies are examined.

This paper proposes that marriage transactions are mechanisms by which households meet labor needs, distribute property, and maintain or enhance status. The authors find that type of marriage transaction is related to subsistence type and social stratification. In particular, bridewealth is more common where property is limited while dowry is more common among property-owning classes.

This study relates female contributions to a variety of social variables. The author divides responses to high female contribution to subsistence into two categories: adaptive (i.e. increased exogamy, polygyny, and bridewealth) and attitudinal (i.e. increased valuation of girls and premarital permissiveness). It is proposed that where women contribute more, “they are perceived less as objects for male sexual and reproductive needs and more as a person in their own right” (149).

This article presents codes for adolescent initiation ceremonies in the standard cross-cultural sample. Commonly held assumptions about initiation ceremonies were not supported. Article focuses on differences between male and female ceremonies. Statistically significant correlations between the codes are indicated.

This chapter investigates correlates of competitive adolescent games, focusing on societal and family characteristics as well as socialization variables and personality traits. Data suggest that games meant to encourage competitiveness will be more common for boys than for girls. Competitive games are also statistically associated with low societal and technological complexity, small and monogamous family organization, less physical contact and comfort in infant socialization, less integration in adult activities, and various personality traits.

This book examines male and female power in various kinship configurations. Variables for male dominance and female autonomy are associated with various political and social variables, such as political complexity and co-wife jealousy. Several hypotheses are supported.

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.

Schlegel and Barry explore the conditions under which adolescent boys' initiation ceremonies involve rituals that frighten or cause pain to the initiates. The authors look for cross-cultural differences and similarities in cultural features associated with harsh rituals, in particular, genital operations.

Kinbank is a global database of 210,903 kinship terms derived from 1,229 spoken and signed languages. The authors created Kinbank as a tool to help explain recurring patterns across cultures through kinship terminology. They illustrate its usefulness by addressing two questions as an example: 1) Is there gender bias in the phonological structure of parent terms? and 2) Did bifurcate-merging terminology and cross-cousin marriage co-evolve in Bantu languages? Using a Bayesian phylogenetic approach, the authors find support for the first question, but none for the latter.

This article discusses maidenhood, the period of time between menarche and marriage. In-depth case illustrations provide insights into the social, technological, and environmental factors that affect the length of maidenhood. The authors use cross-cultural evidence to challenge contemporary American assumptions that teenagers are too young to be mothers and that young women should focus on a career before marriage and child-rearing. A variety of descriptive statistics are also presented.