Bride Theft

Associated Documents (1)

Main AuthorPublished YearTitle
Ayres, BarbaraBride theft and raiding for wives in cross-cultural perspective

Associated Hypotheses (10)

Main AuthorHypothesis
Ayres, Barbara"Although bride theft is somewhat more likely to occur in societies with general polygyny than in societies with limited polygyny or monogamy, the majority (63 percent) of societies with general polygyny do not have bride theft" (241)
Ayres, BarbaraSocieties requiring a bride price at marriage should tend to have a higher proportion of bridetheft than those where considerations at marriage are less substantial (242)
Ayres, Barbara"Table IV indicates that bride theft occurs only rarely where parents exercise either absolute control or no control over their daughters' marriages, but is present in nearly half the societies in which controls are of a intermediate degree of strictness" (242)
Ayres, Barbara"The presence of status differentials within the society which are based upon birth, wealth or occupation is not shown to be related to bride theft" (242-243)
Ayres, Barbara"Table VI shows that there is no relationship between bride theft and norms of premarital sexual behavior. A high valuatin of virginity then, cannot be considered as a causal factor of any general importance" (244)
Ayres, Barbara"Tylor reported that bride theft was invariably associated with patrilocal residence . . ." (244)
Ayres, Barbara"The finding presented in Table VIII that bride theft occurs only in societies where mother and infant sleep together strongly supports the hypothesis of sex identity conflict (P=.01) . . ." (247)
Ayres, BarbaraAccording to the hypothesis bridetheft is more likely to occur in societies with mother-child households. The data contradict this (247)
Ayres, Barbara"Table X shows, however, that bride theft is most likely to occur in societies where the father's role is important' (248)
Ayres, Barbara"Bride theft represents a delayed and displaced acting out of the Oedipal conflict. Such conflict should be maximized in societies where the probablility of mother-infant seduction was high (mother-child households and mother-infant sleeping arrangements) and where the child's competition with the father was most intense (high father involvement in caretaking)" (248)

Associated OCMs

  1. mode of marriage