Prevalence, Structure, and Perception of the Local Population Regarding Consanguineous Marriages in the Rural Areas of Southern India: A Community based Mixed Methods Study.
IF 0.7 4区 医学Q4 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
Dakshita Narayanam, Mishu Mangla, Gomathi Ramaswamy, Remya Mary John
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Southern India has one of the highest prevalence of consanguineous marriages in Asia. Limited research has been conducted to understand the reasons behind this in the rural areas of South India, despite the potential risks associated with consanguinity.
Objectives: The present community-based mixed-methods study was conducted in selected villages of Telangana, with an aim to determine the prevalence and pattern of consanguineous marriages and also to find out why the population native to this region prefer such marriages.
Materials and methods: Two hundred and fifty-two married couples aged 18-75 years, native to this region, were interviewed by doing house to house survey, for achieving the aim, and focused group discussions were conducted, to find out why people of this region prefer or oppose consanguineous marriages, to understand their "mind-set," influencing consanguinity.
Results: The present study found a prevalence of 36.51% consanguinity in this region, with an inbreeding coefficient of 0.014028. The wife's education level is the only sociodemographic factor significantly affecting the prevalence of consanguineous marriages, while factors such as age, socioeconomic status, time spent in the region, religion, employment, husband's education, family structure, and age at first birth show no impact. The continuation of consanguineous marriages in this region is driven by social factors such as marital security and cultural practices, along with economic factors such as inheritance and dowry.
Conclusion: Consanguinity is highly prevalent in this region, and there is an urgent need community-based campaigns to raise the awareness of the general population regarding its negative effects.
期刊介绍：
Indian Journal of Public Health is a peer-reviewed international journal published Quarterly by the Indian Public Health Association. It is indexed / abstracted by the major international indexing systems like Index Medicus/MEDLINE, SCOPUS, PUBMED, etc. The journal allows free access (Open Access) to its contents and permits authors to self-archive final accepted version of the articles. The Indian Journal of Public Health publishes articles of authors from India and abroad with special emphasis on original research findings that are relevant for developing country perspectives including India. The journal considers publication of articles as original article, review article, special article, brief research article, CME / Education forum, commentary, letters to editor, case series reports, etc. The journal covers population based studies, impact assessment, monitoring and evaluation, systematic review, meta-analysis, clinic-social studies etc., related to any domain and discipline of public health, specially relevant to national priorities, including ethical and social issues. Articles aligned with national health issues and policy implications are prefered.
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