Prevalence of consanguineous marriage and its supporting factors among ever- married women in urban areas of Bushehr province

Consanguineous marriage as one of the prevalence forms of marriage in Iranian society has always attracted the attention of researchers. On the other hand, structural theories claim that with the increase of modernization elements such as changes in economic production, education, urbanization, income growth and consumption expansion, faster communication and network changes, and finally the development of other new technologies, this type of marriage will decrease. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of consanguineous marriage and its supporting factors. In this regard, using multi-stage cluster sampling, 600 eligible women aged 18 to 44 years in urban areas of Bushehr province were studied. The results of the present study showed that consanguineous marriage with 41.2% of marriages is still popular and desirable in the study population. Also, the results of multivariate analysis using logistic regression showed - by controlling other research variables - the probability of consanguineous marriage is higher among respondents whose marriage age is lower and their marriage choice pattern is parent-centered. People with lower education are also more likely to have consanguineous marriages. In general, according to the results of this study, it can be said that the evolution of consanguineous marriage in Iranian society will be more affected by changes in other dimensions of the family and marriage, such as marriage age, spouse selection pattern and fertility changes, rather than directly influenced by the elements of modernization. It seems changes in these support factors leading to the reduction of consanguineous marriages in the future.