--- title: Expectant Fathers Show Symptoms of Prenatal Depression description: A study suggests moms-to-be aren't the ones who suffer from the baby blues canonical: https://time.com/4062761/expectant-dads-depression/ author: Tanya Basu article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-06T15:42:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T11:32:57.338Z article:section: Health og:title: Expectant Dads Get the Baby Blues, Too og:description: A study shows that 13.3% of fathers-to-be showed symptoms of depression og:url: https://time.com/4062761/expectant-dads-depression/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Expectant Dads Get the Baby Blues, Too twitter:description: A study shows that 13.3% of fathers-to-be showed symptoms of depression twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Expectant Dads Get the Blues, Too > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=92f8842a-9ac2-4e22-8793-40dbaf074a6c&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1)  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Oct 6, 2015 3:42 PM UTC  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Oct 6, 2015 3:42 PM UTC Moms-to-be suffering from “baby blues” has been widely chronicled, but don’t discount the potential depression risks of dad, according to a [study](http://jmh.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/09/16/1557988315606963) published Tuesday in the _American Journal of Men’s Health._ Researchers from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center surveyed 62 men in Quebec during their partner’s third trimester, asking them to rank their mood, physical activity, sleep quality, financial stress, and marital dynamics over the six months prior to birth. The result: 13.3% of dads reported symptoms of depression. “The mental health of men remains a neglected area of research and one that is not adequately addressed during the transition to parenthood,” Dr. Deborah Da Costa, associate professor of medicine at McGill University and lead author, said. What’s more, the researchers believe that postpartum depression might be something fathers experience as well, and are going to look into that next. “These are important signals because some of these factors may worsen in postpartum,” Dr. Da Costa said, suggesting expectant fathers get screened and take preventive measures for depression much like their partners. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4062761/expectant-dads-depression/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4062761/expectant-dads-depression/"},"headline":"Expectant Dads Get the Blues, Too","datePublished":"2015-10-06T15:42:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:32:57.338Z","description":"13.3% of expectant fathers were affected in a study","url":"https://time.com/4062761/expectant-dads-depression/","keywords":["Psychology","Depression","Pregnancy","Research","Fatherhood","Mental Health/Psychology"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/psychology/","name":"Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4062761/expectant-dads-depression/","name":"Expectant Dads Get the Blues, Too"}}]}] ```