Consanguineous marriages in Denizli, Turkey

Abstract

For the study 1000 families were interviewed during 1996 in the city of Denizli, which is situated in Western Anatolia and has a population of 79 211 families. The overall rate of consanguinity was 11.7%, with a mean inbreeding coefficient of 0.00873. The principal type of consanguineous marriage recorded was between first cousins, which accounted for 49.6% of all unions. For both sexes, a significant negative association was observed between consanguinity and mean age at marriage and level of education.