In order to evaluate an adaptive justification for restriction of ritualized physical contact, the authors test association between three manifestations of physical interaction and prevalence of pathogens cross-culturally. Their expectation, supported by two of the three tested hypotheses, is that higher pathogen prevalence will lead to customs of restricted physical contact. Both cultural and biological evolution are suggested to be influential in selecting for physically intimate behaviors.

This study examines three human facial variables to assess facial attractiveness: symmetry, sex-typicality, and distinctiveness. The goal is to understand whether perceived facial attractiveness might explain human mate choice. The authors use Bayesian multilevel regression analyses and 72 standardized frontal facial landmarks to explore the structural aspects of opposite-sex facial attractiveness preferences for both females and males. They used a sample of 1,550 faces from 10 countries. The results show that 1) distinctiveness is negatively correlated with attractiveness, 2) symmetry does not have a significant association with attractiveness, and 3) sex-typicality is positively correlated with female facial attractiveness but not the other way around. The authors also used a model with body height and BMI, but only some cases had enough information. Although with limitations, their results show that a lower BMI is associated with higher perceived female attractiveness. There is no significant association between BMI and perceived male attractiveness.

This article examines reasons for the variation in sexual foreplay practices cross-culturally. Results suggest that exclusive mother-child sleeping arrangements is significantly associated with the presence of foreplay.

Cultures vary widely in regards to beauty standards for female body fat: while industrialized nations typically prefer thinness in women, ethnographic reports indicate that plumpness is valued in many small-scale societies. Here the authors evaluate several hypotheses that relate variation in female body fat preference to variation in socioecology such as food storage, climate, male social dominance, valuation and restriction of women's work, and female stress during adolescence.

This study negates the hypothesis that romantic love is unique to Euro-American culture and provides evidence of romantic love in the majority of cultures sampled.

This study looks at the relationship between the presence of love magic in a society and sexual anxiety. Results show support for the hypothesis that love magic is positively correlated with sexual anxiety.

This study focuses on preferences for thinness or fatness in women cross-culturally. Results contradict previous studies and the hypothesis that preference for fatness in women is predicted by resource scarcity. Alternative explanations for valuation of fatness are explored, including climate and male dominance.

This study tests the association between pathogen risk and degree of polygyny and sexual advertisement. Results show that the greater the risk of serious pathogens, the greater the degree of polygyny. The correlation between pathogen risk and sexual signals is only marginally significant. An association between mate choice and resource control is also examined.

Textor summarizes cross-cultural findings on extramarital sexual relations pertaining to cultural, environmental, psychological, and social phenomena.

Textor summarizes cross-cultural male initiation rites findings pertaining to cultural, environmental, psychological, and social phenomena.