This paper examines the behavior between close kin and affines of the opposite sex. The authors "point to certain differences between continental areas that are related to specific social factors, including the structure of descent groups and the nature of marriage arrangements."

The study builds on a previous study with the Maasai suggesting that matrilineal descent will close that gap of competitive behavior between men and women. The author conducted a lab experiment consisting of 614 individuals representative of 27 ethnic groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the experiment, the participants completed a timed matching game. First, they played alone with the goal to complete 5 games within 5 minutes to win money. Next, they competed against an undisclosed opponent to complete the most games and to keep all of the winnings. Finally, the participants were able to choose which pay they preferred based solely on the results from the first round. This was designed to reflect competition preference and results indicated that women were less likely to engage in competition regardless of kinship system.

This study tests several hypothesis about predictors of male or female gods. Results suggest a relationship between relative emphasis on female deities and rule of descent.

Ackerman performs a cross-cultural analysis on the structural determinants of divorce rate as originally hypothesized by Max Gluckman and elaborated on by other researchers. Ackerman's results suggest that when spouses share a network of affiliation, divorce rates are low; when spouses maintain separate affiliations, divorce rates are high. Ackerman's statistical analysis and discussion provide an explanatory framework for further research.

The authors test Levi-Strauss' theory of the avunculate, a special relationship between a mother's brother and his sister's son. They critique the theory on the grounds that many societies have a special relationship that could be called the avunculate but lack the other relationships predicted by Levi-Strauss.

This study examines cross-cousin marriage preferences from an evolutionary perspective. Results suggest significant associations between cross-cousin marriage preferences and both polygyny and residence.

This article reviews the theory that permanent animal groups have only one sex breed outside the group in order to balance genetic diversity and group relatedness. The author theorises that since males inherit valuable membership in patrilocal/lineal societies, they are expected to be more concerned about the probability of paternity than males in matrilocal/lineal societies. Moral rules, and specifically belief in moralizing gods, are expected to reflect this difference. In other words, moralizing gods are used to restrict the sexual activity of women.

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.

Researchers examined kinships terminology systems for explanations regarding specifically observed typology of kin terms for cousins cross-culturally. They explore two theories, the first relating to population size via bottleneck evolution, and the second relating to social practices that shape kinship systems. Using the Ethnographic Atlas within D-PLACE, 936 societies with kinship system information were studied. The findings did not suggest a relationship between increased community size and a decrease in kinship complexity, however the research does suggest a relationship between practices of marriage and descent and kinship complexity.

This paper examines the behavior between close kin and affines of the opposite sex. The authors "point to certain differences between continental areas that are related to specific social factors, including the structure of descent groups and the nature of marriage arrangements."