Postpartum depression – that funk into which a woman descends following the birth of her child – is a well-documented part of the birth process. Crying spells, heightened anxiety, mood swings, appetite problems, difficulty sleeping, reduced concentration, and a feeling of being overwhelmed are all par for the course for new moms. The symptoms last from a few days up to a couple of weeks.

Up until very recently, we thought that new dads were immune from the illness, but new research indicates they're not. In fact, the data indicates that depression surrounding the birth of a child may hit some men harder than the moms.

The vulnerable targets are those men who were stressed or in poor health already during their partner's pregnancy. In the new analysis, these men had elevated depression symptoms during the pregnancy, and for a full nine months after the birth of their child. The study of antenatal (pre-birth) depression symptoms (ADS) and postnatal depression symptoms (PDS) in men was done by the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and published in JAMA Psychiatry.

The researchers report that 2.3 percent of fathers were affected by elevated ADS during their partner’s pregnancy and 4.3 percent of fathers were affected by elevated PDS nine months after the child was born.

Heightened levels of depression for men during their partner’s pregnancy were associated with perceived stress and fair to poor health. The elevated depression symptoms men displayed after the birth of their child were related to stress in pregnancy, no longer being in a relationship with the mother, being unemployed, having fair to poor health, and having a history of depression, according to the study.

The Auckland U study examined ADS and PDS in 3,523 men who completed interviews while their partner was in the third trimester of pregnancy and nine months after the birth of their child. The men were an average age of 33 at the antenatal interview.

“Only relatively recently has the influence of fathers on children been recognized as vital for adaptive psychosocial and cognitive development. Given that paternal depression can have direct or indirect effects on children, it is important to recognize and treat symptoms among fathers early and the first step in doing that is arguably increasing awareness among fathers about increased risks,” the authors concluded. The study was a follow-up to the team's earlier research on PDS in mothers.