Logo image
Endogamy, consanguinity and the health implications of changing marital choices in the UK Pakistani community
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Endogamy, consanguinity and the health implications of changing marital choices in the UK Pakistani community

N. Small, A.H. Bittles, E.S. Petherick and J. Wright
Journal of Biosocial Science, Vol.49(4), pp.435-446
2017
url
Link to Published Version *Subscription may be requiredView

Abstract

The biraderi (brotherhood) is a long-established, widely prevalent dimension of social stratification in Pakistani communities worldwide. Alongside consanguinity, it offers a route for cementing social solidarities and so has strong socio-biological significance. A detailed breakdown of biraderi affiliation among participants in an ongoing birth cohort study in the northern English city of Bradford is presented. There is historical resilience of intra-biraderi marriage, but with a secular decline in prevalence across all biraderi and considerable reductions in some. While a majority of marriages in all biraderi are consanguineous the prevalence varies, ranging from over 80% to under 60%. In consanguineous unions, first cousin marriages account for more than 50% in five of the fifteen biraderi and >40% in six others. Within-biraderi marriage and consanguinity enhance genetic stratification, thereby increasing rates of genomic homozygosity and the increased expression of recessive genetic disorders. The trends reported constitute putative signals of generational change in the marital choices in this community.

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

Source: InCites

Metrics

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Citation topics
1 Clinical & Life Sciences
1.189 Genome Studies
1.189.1853 Human Genetic Diversity
Web Of Science research areas
Demography
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Social Sciences, Biomedical
ESI research areas
Social Sciences, general
Logo image