Estudo sobre atitude positiva e comportamento reprodutivo em relação aos casamentos consanguíneos no nordeste do Brasil

Abstract

This work is the first population-based cross-sectional study that sought to investigate the differences in the beliefs, attitudes and reproductive behavior of a population in relation to consanguinity in the backlands of Northeastern Brazil. Data collection consisted of face-to-face interviews performed with 147 individuals ages 13 to 20, representing the totality of high school students of Brejo dos Santos community and 532 elderly individuals aged 60 years and over. The frequency of consanguineous marriages tended to increase over the generations, being 15.9% in the generation of the parents of the elderly participants, 17.1% in their own generation and 20.5% in the generation o f their descendants. Although 258 (50.9%) elderly interviewees rejected consanguineous union, 341 (65.3%) of them would allow their children to marry relatives. Both young (108 or 78.3%) and elderly (398 or 80.4%) interviewees believe that consanguineous marriages are more durable than non-consanguineous marriages (p = 0.578). However, 408 (82.4%) of the elderly individuals and 108 (80.6%) of the students recognize that the spouses in consanguineous couples experience conflicts like other couples (p = 0.625). In both groups, the majority of the participants do not believe that the risk of having children with disabilities is associated with consanguinity. The regression with two continuous variables (age and positive attitudes score) showed a significant correlation between them, suggesting that younger individuals are more susceptible to the influence of cultural factors contributing to consanguinity, such as the opinion of their parents and grandparents. The positive attitude toward consanguinity is linked to the belief that unions between individuals from the same family contribute to greater marriage stability and durability.