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.

Using data from 97 Austronesian-speaking societies, this paper asks two research questions: 1) have religious and political authority co-evolved and 2) have the two institutions tended to become differentiated or unified? By applying phylogenetic methods, the findings show that in Austronesian societies, religious and political authorities are mutually interdependent; however, there is insufficient evidence to support any differentiation or unification of the two over time.

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 article examines the homoarchical custom of hereditary community leadership. Four predictors are identified: (1) permission of premarital heterosexual intercourse by females, (2) small community population, (3) multiple social classes or castes, and (4) praying or violence as a component of community ceremonies. Log linear analysis shows all but the third are significantly associated with hereditary community leadership.

The link between wartime violence and social complexity has been debated through a variety of lenses. Using a cross-cultural sample, this researcher finds no evidence for increased or decreased indiscriminate killing as a result of social complexity. In this study, war is defined as “lethal violence between social groups” (2). While there was no relationship between these variables, this researcher suggests a potential link between territorial/political expansion and indiscriminate killing.