This project has two dimensions. The first is cross-cultural and based on the questionnaire data from each country. It is quantitative and comparative with the purpose of determining universals of family and psychological variables among countries, and differences in family and psychological variables between cultural zones. The second dimension is indigenous and qualitative. These family portraits were structured with a standard format so that the reader could make comparisons between portraits along the same dimensions. The elements of the structure of the portraits are as follows.

1. A historical description of the country briefly introduces the reader to some recent changes and elements of the country.

2. Ecological features describe the environmental factors (mountains, plains, climate) that can play determining roles in shaping subsistence patterns, types of social institutions, significant in-groups, family types, etc.

3. Organization and institutions of society refer to (i) the economic systems; (ii) the political and legal system and its relationship to the community and the family; (iii) the educational system and its relationship to changes in family and gender; and (iv) country religions and their relationships to family functioning and their role in shaping laws regulating marriage, divorce, the role of the woman, and other institutions.

4. Bonds with groups in the immediate community refer to the types of bonds of the nuclear family with the extended family, networks with clans in the community and their influence on family functioning, means of subsistence, political organization, and the types of relationships with national institutions.

5. Family provides descriptions of the different types of families, family roles, marriage, how decisions to marry are made, divorce, kin relationships, and other aspects of social structure within the country.

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