Polygamy

Scope Note

Relative prevalence of monogamy, polygyny, polyandry, and group marriage; patterning of plural marriages (e.g., prohibited on principle, unpatterned and exceptional, disfavored for economic reasons, confined to persons of wealth or high status, preferential); numerical limitations; prevalence of and preferences for sororal polygyny and fraternal polyandry; distinctive procedures for secondary polygamous marriages; concubinage; organization and activities of polygynous families; relations between co-spouses (e.g., economic cooperation, supremacy of first wife); residential arrangements (e.g., common dwelling, separate quarters for each plural spouse); sexual adjustment (e.g., jealousy, sexual rotation); relations between half siblings and between stepparents and stepchildren in polygamous families; etc.