This article examines the status of the elderly cross-culturally, proposing that familial complexity, unlineal descent, and unilocal residence are predictors of high status. The authors theorize that elderly male status will be highest in patrilineal and patrilocal societies; elderly female status will be highest in matrilineal and matrilocal societies. Some support is found for these patterns, but the authors ultimately regard them as too simple to adequately predict status of the elderly.

This article reassesses the cross-cultural work on status of the elderly and tests two additional variables, socialization values and ancestor worship, as predictors of the status of the elderly.

This study discusses the distribution of the treatment of the aged across a sample of pre-industrial societies. Data illustrate that the elderly were treated in a non-supportive or death-hastening manner in the majority of societies, dispelling the notion that a golden age/isle existed in pre-industrial societies in which the elderly were revered and supported. Results also suggest a relationship between age and treatment of the elderly and climate, social, and subsistence variables and the treatment of the aged.

This article explores factors affecting the status of the elderly, looking particularly at type of family, economy, and wealth transfer.

This study examines the treatment of the aged in different societies. Support was found for the hypothesis that the amount information controlled by the aged is positively associated with the degree of esteem in which they are held by other members of the society.

This article investigates how status of the elderly is affected by economic type, family organization, inheritance of real property, and unilocal residence patterns. Multivariate analysis ultimately suggests that agricultural economy, patrilocal residence, and fully extended family systems are significant predictors of higher status of the elderly. No major gender differences were discovered.

This article describes categories of deference toward elderly men and women. The authors test for significant differences in the types of deference elderly men and women enjoy, finding that men experience more victual and linguistic deference. Elderly women enjoy more service deference than men, but the difference is not significant.

This study examines the status and treatment of the elderly in non-industrial societies. Associations are found between social complexity, subsistence type, and the status and treatment of the elderly.

This article investigates the treatment and position of elderly persons cross-culturally, proposing an association with society type. Analysis suggests that semisedentary or seminomadic peoples treat seniors with lower esteem while nucleated peasant communities treat seniors with more esteem. Esteem is defined as "the intersection of decision-making role or resource control and quality of received behavior" (433).

This article uses cross-cultural methodology to examine the classification and treatment of the aged. Results suggest that the combination of supportive/unsupportive treatment is associated with the intact/decrepit age grouping.