About The Author
Thomas Poffenberger (also Thomas Millard) was born in 1921 in Pittsburgh, Pa. He was at Michigan State University in 1941 before serving four years in the US Navy during WWII. In 1946 he was for a time in the 125 th US Army Hospital in Bremerhaven, Germany. He returned to Michigan State where he taught a class in introductory Sociology from 1948-1949 while working on advanced degrees.
After receiving a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Sociology at Michigan State, in 1949-1950 he took a program in advanced study in human behavior and psychotherapy at the Merrell-Palmer Institute in Detroit. He returned to Michigan State for a doctorate in Counseling Psychology. He was a professor in Human Relations at Oregon State University from 1950 to 1953. From 1953 to 1961 he was a Professor at the University of California at Davis where he also served as a consultant to the California State Department of Education. He was certified by the California State Department of Medical Examiners as a Psychologist and accepted couples for marriage counseling.
His research at the University of California at Davis included a study of 2355 vasectomies performed between 1956 and 1961 by an osteopathic surgeon in a factory district of a large central California city. This was one of the first studies of voluntary vasectomies in the United States. At the time, the legal council of the California Medical Association regarded the operation as mayhem and illegal under the law. He continued to study vasectomy in India, a method use in the family planning program. Compared with the US, it was not generally acceptable. (See: Two Thousand Voluntary Vasectomies Performed in California: Background Factors and Comments.)
Among the other studies conducted at Davis was an examination of the conflict regarding proper behavior toward others based on humanitarian beliefs contrasted with beliefs based on the principle of piety. (See: Human Behavior in Terms of “Morality” and “Piety”). Also a study of samples of entering students at Davis before and after the launching of the first Russian Sputnik to determine changes in attitude towards mathematics due to the generally expressed national concern of “falling behind in science.” (Sex Differenced in Achievement Motive in Mathematics as Related to Cultural Change).
In 1961, after a lengthy tour of Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Burma, he and his family arrived in India. With the support of the Ford Foundation, he served as Visiting Professor at the University of Baroda, Gujarat State where he aided in a research and graduate program in the Department of Child Development. As a part of that program, beginning in 1962, he guided a longitudinal study of 332 families in a village, representing the two major castes and a tribal and scheduled (former untouchable) community. A team of four women and two men were hired to interview and observe these families over a two year period. Contact with village families continued off and on into 2000. The data obtained regarding husband-wife relations, sexual and fertility behavior was found to be useful for the developing family planning program of the Indian Government. He was then employed by the Ford Foundation in 1964 to act as a consultant to the Ministry of Health and moved to New Delhi where he served until 1968.
In order to slow the population growth in India, the Indian Government on the basis of successful research with the Inter Uterine Device (IUD) in the United States began a major program supported by the Ford Foundation and Population Council to push it as the preferred method of use. The Deans of Public Health of several major universities were brought in as advisors. In spite of being warned by those who studied Indian society, the IUD program was a major failure since many cultural elements were ignored. The research by the author cited below documents the reasons for the failure of this stage of the early efforts at population stabilization in India in the 1960’s.
He was a Senior Fellow at the East-West Center located at the University of Hawaii, from 1968-69. In 1969 he joined the School of Public Health, University of Michigan until his retirement in 1984 as Professor Emeritus. While at Michigan headed the Michigan Nepal family planning program funded by the US Agency for International Development and served as Director of International Programs. He is also Professor Emeritus in the School of Education at Michigan.
His son, Mark Poffenberger, worked in Nepal and Bali before serving as a program officer for the Ford Foundation in India and Indonesia. He is director of Community Forestry International, a non-profit organization which has for many years, in cooperation with forestry departments in developing countries, established reforestation projects, particularly in India and Cambodia. Programs and publication can be viewed at (www.communityforestryinternational.org.)
Consulting activities
United State Agency for International Development; Ford Foundation; Pathfinder fund; American Public Health Association. Countries included: Korea; Kenya; Nepal; Guatemala; Philippines, Sri Lanka.
Organizations
Kappa Delta Pi Education Honorary, 1949.
Senior Fellow Award, East-West Center, Hawaii, 1968-69.
Grant Foundation Advanced Fellowship Award, Merrell-Palmer Institute, Detroit, Michigan, 1949-1950.
Certified in Psychology: California State of Medical Examiners, 1953, License #219.
American Psychology Association,“Fellow of the Association, in recognition of outstanding and unusual contributions to the Science of Psychology.” 1977.
American Psychological Society, "Recognition as a Fellow of the Society for distinguished contributions to Psychology as a Science," 1990.
American Association for the Advancement of Science, “elected a Fellow, 1969.”
Society for Applied Anthropology, “Fellow, by action of the Executive Committee,”1977.
Who’s Who in the World, The Marquis Publication, “Selected by the Board, Eighth Edition, 1987-88.”
American Men and Women of Science, Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1978-79.
Editorial consultant
University of California Press, Division of International Programs of the National Science Foundation, and the journals of Demography; Cross-Cultural Research; Population; Behavioral, Social land Environmental Issues; Marriage and Family Living.
Written Work
His research and publications have been broadly based in the field of social psychology, specifically, fertility behavior.
Effects of First Pregnancy on the Sexual Adjustments of 212 Couples. With: Landis, J.T. and Poffenberger, S.B., American Sociological Review, 156. 1950, 767-772.
Intent toward Conception and the Pregnancy Experience. With: Poffenberger, S.B. and Landis J. T., American Sociological Review, 17. 1952, 616-620.
Parent, Children and the Sex Molester. With: Kirkendall, L., E.C. Brown Trust, Portland, Oregon. 1953.
Understanding Ourselves and Others, A Discussion Guide. National Association for Mental Health. New York: 1954.
A technique for Evaluation Mental Health Films. Journal of Marriage and Family Living, 18. 1956, 219-223.
Factors Determining Attitudes toward Arithmetic and Mathematics. With: Norton, D.A., The Arithmetic Teacher, 3(3) . 1956, 113- -116.
Human Behavior in Terms of Morality and Piety. With: Olmstead, D., Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 5. 1958, 24-45.
Family Life Education in this Scientific Age. Journal of Marriage and Family Living, 21, 1959, 150-154.
A Research Note on Father-Child Relationship and Father viewed as a Negative figure. Child Development. 30. 1959, 175-179.
Children’s Attitudes toward Bedroom Sharing. With: Cramer, R.D. Journal of Rural Sociology, 24, 1959, 175-179.
Factors in the Formation of Attitudes Toward Mathematics. With: Norton, D., Journal of Educational Research, 52 1959, 171-178.
Individual Choice in Adolescent Premarital Sex Behavior. Journal of Marriage and Family Living, 22. 1960, 324-330.
Responses of Eighth Grade Girls to a Talk on Sex Behavior. Journal of Marriage and Family Living, 1960, 22, 38-44.
The Control of Adolescent Premarital Coitus. Journal of Marriage and Family Living. 24, 1962, 254-278.
Emotional Needs of Normal Children. In: Toward a Better Understanding of Children, University Symposium Series: 14. University of Baroda Press, India, 1962.
Interview Report of Fifty-six Sterilized Cases Performed at a Rural Camp. With: Poffenberger, S.B., Journal of Family Welfare ( India), 8. 1962, 1-7.
Child Development and Family Relations as a Scientific Field. Indian Journal of Social Work, 24. 1963, 110-114.
Two Thousand Voluntary Vasectomies Performed in California. Journal of Marriage and Family Living, 25. 1963, 469-474.
Sex Differences in Achievement Motive in Mathematics as Related to Cultural Change. With: Norton, D., The Journal of Genetic Psychology. 103, 1963, 341-350.
Sex Differences in Intakes in Indian Child Guidance Clinics. With: Poffenberger, S.B. Social Work Review ( India), 10, 1963, 27-34.
Vasectomy as a Preferred Method of Birth Control: A Preliminary Investigation.”
With: Poffenberger, S. B., Journal of Marriage and Family Living, 25. 1963, 341-350.
The Effect of Local Beliefs on Attitudes Toward Vasectomy in Two Indian Villages in Gujarat State, India. With: H. Patel., Population Review, 8. 1964. 37-44.
A Preliminary Survey of Indian Institutions Teaching and Conducting Research in Child Development and Family Relation. With: Advani, K. and Verma, A., University of Baroda Press ( India), 1964.
Research Designs for Evaluating Aftereffects of Vasectomy. With: Wells, B., Ford Foundation. New Delhi, 1965
A Comparison of Factors influencing the Choice of Vasectomy In India and the United States. Indian Journal of Social Work, 25. 1965, 339-351.
The Marital and Sexual Adjustment of 330 Couples who Chose Vasectomy as a Form of Birth Control. With: Landis, J.T. Journal of Marriage and Family Living, 27, 1965, 57-58.
Hesitations and Worries of 330 Couples Choosing Vasectomy for Birth Control.
With: Landis, J.T., The Family Life Coordinator, 1966, 15, 143-148.
Research Needs in Family Planning and Population Control. Indian Journal of Social Research, 7, 1966, 94-100.
Social and Psychological Aspects of Diffusion and Adoption of Family Planning in India.” Social Work Forum ( India), 4, 1966, 8-15.
Age of Wives and Number of Living Children in a Sample of Men Who Had the Vasectomy in Meerut District, U.P., India. The Journal of Family Welfare ( India), 13. 1967, 48-51.
Motor and Mental Development of Indian Infants of ages One Month to Twenty Five Months. With: Patel, A and Barot, J., Journal of the Gujarat Research Society ( India), 29, 1967, 106-113.
An Experimental IUD Incentive Program. The Ford Foundation, New Delhi, India, 1967.
Toward a Short Form KAP. Central Family Planning Institute, New Delhi, India 1967
Husband - Wife Differences in Attitude Toward Fertility Control Innovations in Rural India. Indian Journal of Social Research, 9, 1968, 36-42.
Motivational Aspects of Resistance to Family Planning in an Indian Village Demography, 5, 1968, 757-766.
Urban Indian Attitudinal Responses and Behavior Related to Family Planning. The Journal of Family Welfare ( India), 4, 1968, 31-38.
Husband –Wife Communication and Motivational Aspects of Population Control in an Indian Village.” Central Family Planning Institute Monograph Series ( New Delhi, India), No. 10, 1969.
Review of: The Impact of Communication on Rural Development: An Investigation in Costa Rica and India. Roy, P. , Waisenen, F.B., and Rogers, E.M. Paris: UNESCO,1969, In the Journal of Asian Studies, 29, 1970, 961-962.
Family Planning Program of Korea. With: Merrill, C. B., et al. Report of the American Public Health Team for AID/Korea. September, 1970.
Sources of Family Size Preferences Among Rural Turkish Youth. International Journal of Health Education, With: Carpenter-Yamen, C. , 1984.
Social Change and Perception of Change in Child Rearing Practices in a Suburban Indian Village. With Poffenberger, S.B., Baroda: University of Baroda Press. 1970.
Population Learning and Out-of-School Youth in India. Studies in Family Planning. 2. Aug. 1971, 171-175.
An Experimental Population Education Program in Rural India. Studies in Family Planning. 2, November 1971, 233-237.
The Use of Age and Number of Living Boys and Girls, as a Simple Reporting System for Family Planning Evaluation. With: Kamala Rao. New Delhi: Ford Foundation, 1967.
Age of Wives and Number of Living Children of a Sample of Men Who Had a Vasectomy in Meerut District, U.P." Journal of Family Welfare ( India), 13, June, 1967, 48-51.
Motivational Aspects of Resistance to Family Planning in an Indian Village. Demography, 1968, 5: 757-766.
Reaction to World New Events and the Influence of the Mass Media in an Indian Village. With: Poffenberger, S.B. Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia, #1. 1971.
The social psychology of fertility behavior in a village in India. In: J.T. Fawcett (Ed.) Psychological Perspectives on Population. New York: Basic Books. 1973.
Fertility and Family Life in an Indian Village. With: Poffenberger, S.B, et al. Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia, #10. 1975.
Book Review: “Human Fertility in India: Social Components and Policy. By Mendelbaum, D.G., Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974. In: Human Ecology, 3. 1975, 296-299.
Socialization of Family Size Values: Youth and Family Planning in an Indian Village. Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia. 1976. Monograph, 312.
Individual and Social Concerns in Population Education. International Journal of Health Education. 19. 1976. 119-128.
Family-Size-Attitudes of Rural Turkish Youth. With: Caprenter-Yaman, C. International Family Planning Perspectives. 7. 1981. 118-121.
Population Learning Among Rural Turkish Youth from an Adult-Oriented Family Planning Program. With: Carpenter-Yaman, C. International Quarterly of Community Health Education. 2. 1981-82, 239-252.
Child Rearing and Social Structure in Rural India. In J. Korbin (Ed.) Child Abuse and Neglect, Cross-cultural Perspectives. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1981
Book Review: “The Endangered Sex: Neglect of Female Children in Rural North India. By Barbara D. Miller. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1981. International Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect. 1982. 6. 369-71.
Sources of Family Size Preferences among Rural Turkish Youth. International Journal of Health Education, With: Carpenter-Yamen, C. , 1984.