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Good marriage buffers effectsof dad’s depressionWhat effect does a father’s depression have on his young son ordaughter? When fathers report a high level of emotional intimacy intheir marriages, their children benefit, said a U of I study.“When a parent is interacting with their child, they need to beable to attend to the child’s emotional state, to be cued in to hisdevelopmental stage and abilities, to notice whether she is gettingfrustrated or needs help. Depressed parents have more difficulty doingthose things,” said Nancy McElwain, a professor of humandevelopment.But if a depressed dad has a close relationship with a partner wholistens to and supports him, the quality of father–child interactionimproves, she noted.“A supportive spouse appears to buffer the effects of the father’sdepression. We can see it in children’s behavior when they’re workingwith dad. The kids are more persistent and engaged,” McElwain said.The researchers used data from 606 children and their parents,first when children were 4½, then at 6½.“At this stage of a child’s development, an engaged parent is veryimportant. Children’s ability to focus and persist with a task whenthey are frustrated is critical in making a successful transition frompreschool to formal schooling,” she said.Interestingly, depressed mothers didn’t get the same boost from asupportive spouse.That may be because men and women respond to depressiondifferently, McElwain added. “Men tend to withdraw; women tend toruminate. We think that high emotional intimacy and sharing in themarriage may encourage a woman’s tendency to ruminate about herdepression, disrupting her ability to be available and supportive withher children.”Jailed men express needfor financial educationIncarcerated men know they will need better financial skills tosucceed when they’re released from prison, but most distrust “thesystem,” are more open to educators from outside their facility, andbelieve they need personal rather than classroom instruction, saidAngela Wiley, a professor of applied family studies.“Most of us are in here because of money,” noted one man whowas interviewed.Many of the men said they want to learn to budget and managemoney because they anticipate being self-employed upon their release,but “I really feel like a moron in that area, and I don’t know where tostart asking questions,” one man said.More than half were thinking about going into construction andreal estate—buying houses, fixing them up, and selling them. Onewanted to start a business using his cooking skills, and another tofreelance as a tattoo artist.“Many jailed men don’t have the formal education and specific skillsto be viable in the traditional job market. It makes sense, if they’rethinking about starting a business, to teach them basic bookkeeping,how to fill out tax forms, those kinds of things,” Wiley said.Despite their interest in financial education, many of the men saidthat there was not much opportunity because “the criminal justicesystem is not about rehabilitation.” Only two men did not expressdistrust of the system and the instruction offered within it.Wiley wants to see programs targeted to meet the needs of this veryvulnerable population.“If we’re not helping offenders in ways that will enable them to besuccessful later on the outside, we’re doing them and society as a wholea disservice,” Wiley said.New department head for HCDSusan Silverberg Koerner, new head ofthe Department of Human and CommunityDevelopment (HCD), was a faculty member atthe University of Arizona before coming to theU of I.Her areas of interest: families, aging, andhealth, specifically the emotional and physicalwell-being of adults who provide care forelderly frail, ill, or disabled relatives.What hidden treasure has she found on campus? “I was thrilledto discover delicious French onion soup, topped with baked gruyere,at The Bread Company, just down the street from my office.”ACES@Illinois Winter 201417