Monogamy and Independent Families

Abstract

This research note is concerned with a statistical evaluation of two propositions from macrosociological theory: that the relationship of monog amy and independent families to societal complexity is best described by a curvilinear mathematical model. Data from 483 societies in the World Sample were used to test these propositions. The results show that while the curvilinear model does explain more of the total variance than do similar tests based on the linear model the total amount of variance ex plained is relatively low. It was also found that the curvilinear model explained more variance when the dependent variables are scored as pres ent-absent rather than when degrees of extension or proportions of monog amy are substituted for the dichotomized versions. Finally, it is suggested that poor discriminatory power in the complexity scale may be contributing to the unexplained variance.