{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]],"date-time":"2026-10-06T07:03:11Z","timestamp":1791270191076,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"National Academy of Sciences","issue":"36","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788134400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001665","name":"Agence Nationale de la Recherche","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["ANR-17-EURE-0010"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ANR-17-EURE-0010"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001665","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.pnas.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,8]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Cousin marriage, practiced by over 10% of the world\u2019s population, restructures kinship networks by overlapping blood and affinal ties. Theory makes competing predictions about how such kin density shapes intrahousehold conflict. \u201cProtection\u201d accounts posit that consanguinity aligns spouses\u2019 interests and increases kin oversight, reducing men\u2019s incentives and opportunities to use coercion. \u201cConstraint\u201d accounts, by contrast, emphasize that dense kin networks can prioritize family cohesion over women\u2019s autonomy, potentially suppressing help-seeking and facilitating control. Here, I adjudicate between these hypotheses using data on ~36 to 46,000 women from Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, and T\u00fcrkiye. Using cluster-fixed-effects models that compare women within the same Demographic and Health Survey primary sampling units and survey waves, I find that marriage to a first cousin is associated with a 2.5 percentage-point lower probability of physical intimate partner violence relative to nonconsanguineous unions (\u224811% lower relative risk). Parallel reductions are observed for coercive controlling behaviors and estimates are robust to matching on observed confounders. The protective association for physical violence is stronger for patrilateral than matrilateral cousins, consistent with protection depending on kin with recognized authority over men in patrilineal systems rather than generic relatedness. In T\u00fcrkiye, the association persists after adjusting for both spouses\u2019 parental consanguinity, suggesting that it is not explained solely by family-level characteristics associated with the intergenerational practice of cousin marriage. These findings indicate that, in these settings, consanguinity is associated with lower reported violence and control.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2600906123","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T19:03:24Z","timestamp":1788203004000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1073\/pnas.cm10313","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Cousin marriage and reduced exposure to intimate partner violence and coercive control"],"prefix":"10.1073","volume":"123","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8818-637X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Olympia L. 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P.","year":"1967","unstructured":"G. P. Murdock, Ethnographic Atlas (University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, 1967)."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_15_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cub.2022.12.027"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_16_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"S. Lowes \u201cKinship structure and the family: Evidence from the matrilineal belt\u201d (NBER Working Paper No. 30509 2022). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3386\/w30509.","DOI":"10.3386\/w30509"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_17_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"A. Z. Reynolds Matriliny reverses gender disparities in inflammation and hypertension among the Mosuo of China. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117 30324\u201330327 (2020).","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2014403117"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_18_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.socscimed.2025.118355"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_19_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.2021.0436"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_20_2","unstructured":"M. Al-Shafaee E. Field S. Jayachandran M. Squires \u201cEscaping patriarchy: Familial insularity and gender attitudes in Oman\u201d (Duke University Working Paper 2026). https:\/\/sites.duke.edu\/ericafield\/files\/2025\/12\/wp_2026_05_Escaping_Patriarchy_Oman.pdf. Accessed 19 August 2026."},{"key":"e_1_3_4_21_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/qje\/qjad018"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_22_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.evolhumbehav.2024.106636"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_23_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11199-010-9793-3"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_24_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1101\/cshperspect.a017517"},{"key":"e_1_3_4_25_2","volume-title":"Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society","author":"Abu-Lughod L.","year":"1986","unstructured":"L. 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