Abstract:Cousin marriage, practised by over 10% of the world’s population, restructures kinship networks by overlapping blood and affinal ties. Theory makes competing predictions about how this affects women. “Protection” accounts argue that consanguinity aligns spouses’ interests and increases kin oversight, reducing coercion. “Constraint” accounts emphasise that dense kin involvement can prioritise family cohesion over women’s autonomy, suppressing help-seeking. Using demographic data from ~40,000 women across Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, and Turkey, I show that cousin-married women report significantly lower levels of both physical intimate partner violence and coercive control than women in non-consanguineous unions.

In the second half, I examine whether cousin marriage accelerates family formation by reducing search and transaction costs. Marrying kin may eliminate protracted spouse searches and simplify negotiations, lowering age at first marriage. Using demographic data from the same four countries I test whether cousin marriage reduces age at marriage and increases completed fertility. A fertility advantage could offset genetic costs of inbreeding, potentially explaining the evolutionary persistence of consanguineous marriage.

Zoom link:

https://ucla.zoom.us/j/94308730584?pwd=0YGsaJFEdLd5cMsOhTh465nwJubz9o.1

Meeting ID: 943 0873 0584
Passcode: 308291