• DOI:10.2307/353595
• Corpus ID: 143341230

Modernization and consanguineous marriage in Iran.

@article{Givens1994ModernizationAC,
  title={Modernization and consanguineous marriage in Iran.},
  author={Benjamin P. Givens and Charles Hirschman},
  journal={Journal of Marriage and Family},
  year={1994},
  volume={56},
  pages={820-834}
}

• Benjamin P. Givens, C. Hirschman
• Published 1 November 1994
• Economics
• Journal of Marriage and Family

A declining trend in consanguineous marriage over time and negative relationships between consanguinity and measures of social status were hypothesized. The 1976-77 Iran Fertility Survey (IFS) consisted of a household survey and a survey of individual ever-married women 15-50 years old. Using a sampling frame from the 1976 Census IFS households were selected using a multistage probability sample designed to represent the entire country. From the sample of 5730 IFS households a sample of 4667 ever-married women between the ages of 15 and 50 were interviewed who were married only once. Overall almost 40% of respondents in the IFS sample reported being married to a relative with about 24% to a near relative and 15% to a far relative. The level of consanguinity among women in second or higher order marriages was much lower than the sample of women married only once (the numbers are 20% and 40% respectively). According to multivariate logistic regressions women who married after the age of 20 were much less likely to marry a relative. The transformed coefficients showed that women who married men with 12 or more years of schooling were almost 15% more likely to have a consanguineous marriage than men with no education. In general young brides and grooms were much more likely to marry their cousins. However even for men and women marrying in the age range of 18-20 the level of consanguinity was generally well over 40%. It was only for women above 21 and men above 26 that the level of consanguinity declined. The results provide mixed support for Goodes thesis that modernization and higher social status will lead to a decline in consanguineous marriage. In spite of the rapid economic and social changes from the 1950s to the 1970s the incidence of consanguinity increased over this time period possibly because of the increased availability of first cousins of marriageable ages.