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THE PREVALENCE AND CORRELATES OF CONSANGUINEOUS MARRIAGES IN YEMEN: SIMILARITIES AND CONTRASTS WITH OTHER ARAB COUNTRIES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2002

ROZZET JURDI  and
PREM C. SAXENA
ROZZET JURDI
Affiliation:
American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
PREM C. SAXENA
Affiliation:
American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
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Abstract

Using data on 9762 women from the 1997 Yemen Demographic and Maternal and Child Health Survey, this paper examines the prevalence and socioeconomic correlates of consanguineous marriages in Yemen. The results indicate that 40% of marriages are consanguineous, over 85% of which are between first cousins. The prevalence of consanguineous marriages appears to have increased over time, particularly for the last marriage cohort. As for socioeconomic correlates, the study confirms the inverse association between consanguineous marriages and women’s education and occupation, age at marriage and economic status. However, no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of consanguinity has been found by place of residence and geographical region. Somewhat unexpected results have been obtained by husband’s background characteristics, with higher educated men and those working in the modern sector of the economy being more likely to be married to cousins.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , January 2003 , pp. 1 - 13
Copyright
© 2003 Cambridge University Press

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