Cohorts, overlapping generations and consanguinity estimates
- 1 January 1983
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Annals of Human Biology
- Vol. 10 (3), 257-264
- https://doi.org/10.1080/03014468300006421
Abstract
A number of problems in human population genetics involve determining the effects of non-random mating due to cultural or geographic factors, and therefore requires determination of expectations based on random mating. These expectations are usually taken to be the arithmetic mean of the contributions of all possible pairs drawn from a subpopulation of individuals of mating age during a specified period. This cohort approach in effect treats the subpopulation as a discrete generation. In real populations, the pool of potential mates with whom any individual may be paired is continually changing, and not all pairs are eligible, on demographic grounds, to mate for equal lengths of time. A simple means of avoiding problems due to this discrepancy between method and reality is suggested and applied to data from an isolated Caribbean population in order to determine whether treating cohorts as discrete generations introduces serious bias into estimates of expected consanguinity. Any such biases are likely to be negligible, but may be important in some special circumstances.This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
- GENETIC-IMPLICATIONS OF MATING STRUCTURE IN A CARIBBEAN ISOLATE1981
- THE PROBABILITY OF CONSANGUINEOUS MARRIAGESGenetics, 1966
- Measurement of inbreeding from the frequency of marriages between persons of the same surnameEugenics Quarterly, 1965
- Concepts of random mating and the frequency of consanguineous marriagesProceedings of the Royal Society of London. B. Biological Sciences, 1963