Genetic aspects of inbreeding and incest

Bittles, A.H. (2004) Genetic aspects of inbreeding and incest. In: Wolf, A. and Durham, W., (eds.) Inbreeding, Incest, and the Incest Taboo: The State of Knowledge at the Turn of the Century. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, pp. 38-60.

Abstract

When referring to humans, the term inbreeding is used to describe unions between couples known to share at least one common ancestor. While now rare in Western societies, marriages between close biological kin are preferential in many parts of the world, including north and sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle-East, Central Asia and much of the Indian subcontinent. Although the rates and types of inbred union may vary according to religious and societal norms, marriages between first cousins are especially common; for example, in Pakistan they currently account for approximately 50 percent of all marital unions...

Item Type:	Book Chapter
Publisher:	Stanford University Press
Copyright:	2004 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
Publisher's Website:	http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=4520
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/13210

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