Arranged marriages have existed in many societies throughout time, they have acted as a mechanism that allows two families to enter into an informal contract (for example, informal insurance arrangements) that will provide benefits to their members: create political alliances, ensure consumption smoothing, facilitate economic transactions, consolidate power, increase wealth, among others. In Eu...

Marriage is said to be consanguineous, when it is between persons descending from the common ancestor. Consanguineous marriages are widely contracted worldwide despite the devastating effects in children born to such couples. The aim of the study was to analyze the impact of consanguinity on hearing in babies born out of consanguineous marriages. It was a comparative study in 50 children aged b...

We study the impact of marriages resulting from bride kidnapping on infant birth weight. Bride kidnapping-a form of forced marriage-implies that women are abducted by men and have little choice other than to marry their kidnappers. Given this lack of choice over the spouse, we expect adverse consequences for women in such marriages. Remarkable survey data from the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyz...

Consanguineous marriages have been practiced since the early existence of modern humans. Until now consanguinity is widely practiced in several global communities with variable rates depending on religion, culture, and geography. Arab populations have a long tradition of consanguinity due to socio-cultural factors. Many Arab countries display some of the highest rates of consanguineous marriage...

OBJECTIVES The aims of the study were to determine the prevalence, types and socio-economic correlates of consanguineous marriages in Iran, and to gauge the extent to which consanguinity influenced fertility, pregnancy outcomes and the expression of genetic disorders in the present-day population. METHODS Data on the prevalence of consanguinity and birth outcomes in the first marriages of 5,5...

Heterogamous marriages, in which partners have dissimilar attributes (e.g. by socio-economic status or ethnicity), are often at elevated risk of dissolution. We investigated the influences of heterogamy by religion and area of residence on risk of marital dissolution in Northern Ireland, a country with a history of conflict and residential segregation along Catholic-Protestant lines. We expecte...