To care that my children’s great grandparents were first cousins?

[Antipoodean]

Not particularly unusual perhaps, but I come from a very diverse gene pool myself (different hemispheres). I only learnt that my MIL’s parents were first cousins after we had children. Would this bother you? My dcs are healthy and I am not worried about them, I’d have had them
with the knowledge, it’s just a bit disconcerting.

Was it quite normal??
It was in my grandparents Country of birth.🤷‍♀️

@Buttonjugs I get where you are coming from but I do not agree. TW—— A child could be born as a result of rape and be loved unconditionally by it’s mother, that certainly doesn’t make the rape right!

The idea of some long-gone ancestors having been copulating cousins wouldn’t bother me.

The idea of shagging any of my own cousins (even the one or two I’ve never met) is utterly hideous.

The idea of my child having a sexual relationship with their first cousin is also utterly hideous.

Bleurgh.

A child could be born as a result of rape and be loved unconditionally by it’s mother, that certainly doesn’t make the rape right!
Jeez, let's go to extreme eh?

The person was trying to reassure the Op for goodness sake, no need to come up with that scenario!

LOL, this.
Alghough great-grand parents aren't that long gone.

There was context to my comment.

Another poster said you look like your
relatives, and that’s why it’s weird. And further said that’s why you don’t feel attracted to people who look like you. That’s why I mentioned it.

No, I’m say extrapolating data for a population out using only middle class Londoners is highly unscientific. It would be like me saying that because 20% of a certain demographic speaks welsh, I can say that’s the case across the U.K….stupid right? Same applies here.

My parents were second cousins. It doesn't bother me at all. Why would it?

It would be like me saying that because 20% of a certain demographic speaks welsh, I can say that’s the case across the U.K….stupid right?

It's not analogous to speaking Welsh. That is a trait which is well known to be restricted to Wales, and certain parts of Wales at that.

Marriage otoh is something people do across the UK, in all classes. London is a big city full of people born there and also born elsewhere, both within and outside the UK. It's also a city offering opportunities for people who are hard working and ambitious to move into the middle classes, regardless of class or country of origin. Looking at the London middle classes is a decent enough snapshot of consanguinity habits to be useful.

If people all over the rest of the UK were marrying cousins generation after generation at levels measurably above those of MC London in the 1960s, then some of the well known problems associated with inbreeding would be far more evident in the general UK population. These well known problems would not be mainly represented only in populations known to habitually participate in cousin marriage.

@JaninaDuszejko - the reason for the haemophilia B of Victoria's descendants fading away in European royal families in the last hundred years is that they stopped marrying their cousins and turned to commoners instead.

Victoria's descendants married people they were related to, closely related in some cases, thus increasing the chances of passing along the gene. Haemophilia is among several conditions closely associated with consanguinity.

Only 1 of Victoria's descendants who had haemophilia had children themselves. Her son Leopold had a boy (who was obviously unaffected) and a daughter who was a carrier. All the males who had it died young, Leopold lived till he was 31, the others were younger.

I don't think the hemophilia in the royal houses of Europe is related to cousin marriage. Cousin marriage-related risks are connected with having two copies of recessive genes, but the gene in this case is on the X chromosome and you only need one copy.

It probably originated in Vic's father who was in his 50s when he fathered her, greatly increasing the odds of a mutation in his sperm.

I’m simply saying you can’t extrapolate data out from a specific population to a much wider one. That’s not how scientific study works.

My sibling is married to our first cousin. They don't have children.

And I'm saying that there are other elements that went into the conclusion besides behaviour of the middle classes in London, but also that middle classes in London is a representative sample, which is how surveys work.

Are you claiming that significantly more people outside of London married their cousins? Fewer people?

Oh FGS!

Of course it would be relevant if there was a genetic problem.

Are you claiming that significantly more people outside of London married their cousins? Fewer people?

Cousin marriage is affected by many things, including social attitudes and location, yes. People in small, rural communities were more likely to meet people who are cousins of some sort, if distant. People in London were in a bigger gene pool.

My ex's great grandparents were first cousins and both he and his sister have been diagnosed with multiple personality disorders on the Cluster B scale. I suspect his father has at least one too. Both of them have struggled to hold down both relationships and jobs. It seemed that the first cousins married in order to preserve inherited wealth in the family but the product of that marriage had similar issues and it also meant that they were extremely closely related to a notorious murderer!

I don't think its great tbh. My mother's family comes from a Scottish island and for centuries its been common for woman to move elsewhere to get married, sometimes returning with their husbands, sometimes not. Some of the islands are more diverse than people would think because of visiting traders, sailors, contact with other countries and people immigrating from one place to another. I think the issue has been long known.

"My ex's great grandparents were first cousins and both he and his sister have been diagnosed with multiple personality disorders on the Cluster B scale."

Seems unlikely to me that this distant relationship caused the multiple personality disorders in the brother and sister. Is there any evidence of this?

Seems unlikely to me that this distant relationship caused the multiple personality disorders in the brother and sister. Is there any evidence of this?

No, you’re right. Recessive genes don’t work like that. You need to inherit from both parents to be affected. Obviously, children born to first cousins are at risk because both parents could have inherited something from either of their 2 shared grandparents. If the children are unaffected and go on to have children with unrelated people, those children are at no more risk than the rest of the general population.

I believe that the latest research has found differences in the amygdala between Cluster B and non Cluster B diagnosed individuals, and it is though that there may be a genetic element, yes. I don't believe that the liklihood of inheriting such differences of brain development has been accurately assessed yet. Its also difficult to differentiate it from upbringing influences.

Thanks for the explanation.

Cousin marriage is affected by many things, including social attitudes and location, yes. People in small, rural communities were more likely to meet people who are cousins of some sort, if distant.

The issue is first cousin marriage here, not more distant relationships.

We are also talking about averages, about the country as a whole. A lot of first cousin marriages in Pinprick-on-the-Map, population 1,056, will be more than offset by a lack of first cousin marriages in Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, etc.