PMID- 10085741 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 19990401 LR - 20191024 IS - 0037-766X (Print) IS - 0037-766X (Linking) VI - 45 IP - 3-4 DP - 1998 Fall-Winter TI - Mate selection and its impact on female marriage age, pregnancy wastages, and first child survival in Tamil Nadu, India. PG - 289-301 AB - Marriage in Indian society is a religious duty. Consanguineous marriage is common, where individuals prefer to marry within their clan (a unilateral kin group based on either matrilineal or patrilineal descent). Keeping in mind that this form of marriage has certain disadvantages for social and biological as well as demographic aspects of individuals and families, the present study examines the influence of mate selection (i.e., close relatives, distant relatives, not related) on female age at marriage, pregnancy wastages, and survival status of the first child. The study was designed based on the information collected on a sample size of 3,948 married women aged 13-49 in Tamil Nadu, India, by the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), 1992. Results suggest that 48 per cent of women in Tamil Nadu marry their relatives. This practice of marrying relatives is high in rural areas, among Hindus, Scheduled Castes/tribes, and illiterate women as compared to urban areas, among non-Hindus, non-SC/ST, and educated women, respectively. The bivariate analysis reveals that women marrying their close relatives had low age at marriage and experienced a higher per cent of pregnancy wastage and child loss (first child) as compared to those women marrying their distant relatives or nonrelatives. The result is found to be consistent even after controlling for selected background variables through multivariate techniques (applied separately for age at marriage, pregnancy wastages, and the survival status of first child). Hence, this study suggests that steps should be taken to inform people about the problems of marrying close relatives through appropriate IEC programs in Tamil Nadu. FAU - Sureender, S AU - Sureender S AD - Department of Population Policies and Programmes, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India. FAU - Prabakaran, B AU - Prabakaran B FAU - Khan, A G AU - Khan AG LA - eng PT - Journal Article PL - United States TA - Soc Biol JT - Social biology JID - 0205621 SB - IM MH - Abortion, Spontaneous/*etiology MH - Adolescent MH - Adult MH - Age Factors MH - *Choice Behavior MH - *Consanguinity MH - *Courtship MH - Female MH - Humans MH - India/epidemiology MH - *Infant Mortality MH - Infant, Newborn MH - Marriage/*ethnology/statistics & numerical data MH - Maternal Age MH - Middle Aged MH - Pregnancy OID - PIP: 140347 OID - POP: 00283716 OAB - This study examined consanguinity and pregnancy outcomes among married women in Tamil Nadu state, India. Data were obtained from the 1992-93 National Family Health Survey among a sample of 3948 married women aged 13-49 years. Consanguineous marriage was highest in Tamil Nadu, where 48.2% of marriages were between relatives. Other states with high consanguinity were Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Findings reveal that about 50% of the sample were women aged under 30 years. 70.2% lived in rural areas. 88% were Hindus. 50% were illiterate. 66% were unaware of the legal marriage age. 38.3% married close relatives, 9.9% married distant relatives, and 51.7% married nonrelatives. Educated women were more likely to marry nonrelatives. Consanguinity was high among Hindus, scheduled castes, and tribes. Consanguinity occurred at earlier ages and was significantly associated with lower age at marriage. Female age at marriage was also significantly influenced by religion, age at menarche, education of women, childhood place of residence, and caste. Pregnancy wastage was 22.7% for women marrying close relatives, 21.6% for women marrying distant cousins, and 18.7% for women marrying nonrelatives. The odds of pregnancy wastage were 1.3 times higher for women marrying close relatives. Loss of the first child was 16.8% of women marrying close relatives, 15% of women marrying distant relatives, and 11.5% of women marrying nonrelatives. Controlling for background characteristics, women marrying close relatives were 1.3 times more likely to lose their first child than the reference group. OABL- eng OTO - PIP OT - Asia OT - Biology OT - *Child Survival OT - *Consanguinity OT - Demographic Factors OT - Developing Countries OT - Genetics OT - *Hinduism OT - India OT - Length Of Life OT - Marriage OT - *Marriage Age--women OT - Marriage Patterns OT - *Mate Selection OT - Mortality OT - Nuptiality OT - Population OT - Population Dynamics OT - Pregnancy OT - *Pregnancy Outcomes OT - Religion OT - Reproduction OT - Research Methodology OT - *Research Report OT - Sampling Studies OT - Southern Asia OT - Studies OT - *Surveys OT - Survivorship GN - PIP: TJ: SOCIAL BIOLOGY. EDAT- 1999/03/23 00:00 MHDA- 1999/03/23 00:01 CRDT- 1999/03/23 00:00 PHST- 1999/03/23 00:00 [pubmed] PHST- 1999/03/23 00:01 [medline] PHST- 1999/03/23 00:00 [entrez] AID - 10.1080/19485565.1998.9988980 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Soc Biol. 1998 Fall-Winter;45(3-4):289-301. doi: 10.1080/19485565.1998.9988980.