Arland Thornton
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BIO
Arland Thornton is Professor of Sociology, Population Studies, and Survey Research at the University of Michigan, where he is also associated with the Native American Studies Program and centers within the International Institute. He is a social demographer who has served as president of the Population Association of America and previously held a MERIT award from the National Institutes of Health. He has received four awards for his books as well as distinguished career awards from the American Sociological Association and the Population Association of America. Thornton has focused much of his career on the study of family and demographic issues, with emphasis on marriage, cohabitation, childbearing, gender roles, education, and migration. Thornton has also pioneered the study of developmental idealism, including its conceptualization, measurement, and influence in many places. He has collaborated in the collection and analysis of data from Albania, Argentina, Bulgaria, China, Egypt, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Malawi, Nepal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Turkey, the U.S., and Vietnam. Thornton is currently conducting Sociological Studies about American Indians, examining several dimensions of American Indian life, including levels, trends, and differentials in school enrollment, literacy, and years of school completed.
- Arland Thornton. 2024. Literacy among American Indians: Levels and Trends from 1900 to 1930 and across Birth Cohorts from 1830 to 1920. Ethnohistory 71(3):379–408.
- Serap Kavas, Arland Thornton. 2022. Distinguishing between Old and New Developmental Idealism and among Beliefs about Correlation, Causation, and Expectations: Beliefs about Family Change and Development in Turkey. Sociology of Development 8(3):318–350.
- Gordner, Jillian, Arland Thornton, Young-Demarco,Linda C. 2022. Names Used Among Native Americans at the Colville Indian Agency: Perspectives from the 1885 Bureau of Indian Affairs Census. Journal of Northwest Anthropology 56(1):3-43.
- Arland Thornton, Jeffrey Swindle, Prem Bhandari, Linda C Young-Demarco, Nathalie Williams, Christina Hughes. 2021. Developmental idealism and migration: theorizing their relationship and an empirical example from Nepal. Migration and Development
- Thornton, Arland D, Kavas, Serap . 2020. Developmental Idealism and Beliefs About Marriage and Fertility in Turkey. Population Research and Policy Review 39:47-75.
- Young-Demarco, Linda C, Thornton, Arland D, Bhandari, Prem B., Williams, Nathalie E, Swindle, Jeffrey , Hughes, Christina , Chan, Loritta , Sun, Cathy . 2020. Ethno-Caste influences on migration rates and destinations. World Development 130:104912.
- Allendorf, Keera, Arland Thornton, Dirgha Jibi Ghimire, Linda C Young-Demarco, Colter Mitchell. 2020. A Good Age to Marry? An Intergenerational Model of the Influence of Timing Attitudes on Entrance into Marriage. European Journal of Population
- Arland Thornton, Bhandari, Prem, Swindle, Jeffrey, Williams, Nathalie, Young-Demarco,Linda C, Cathy Sun, Hughes, Christina. 2020. Fatalistic Beliefs and Migration Behaviors: A Study of Ideational Demography in Nepal. Population Research and Policy Review 39(4):643-670.
- Hughes, Christina, Bhandari, Prem, Linda C Young-Demarco, Swindle, Jeffrey, Arland Thornton, Williams, Nathalie. 2020. Family Obligation Attitudes, Gender, and Migration. International Journal of Sociology 50(5):237-264.
- Ghimire, Dirgha Jibi, Williams, Nathalie E, Thornton, Arland D, Young-Demarco, Linda C, Bhandari, Prem B.. 2019. Strategies for Origin-based Surveying of International Migrants. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 45(7):1185-1206. PMCID: PMC6481943.