Summer Births and Male Depression: Insights from New Research

It seems there could be some validity to the concept of “summertime sadness,” especially among men. A study reveals that males born during the summer months may be more prone to experiencing depression when compared to those born in other seasons.

Conducted by researchers at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia, Canada, this study involved an international survey of adults. They found that summer-born men, unlike women, exhibited a greater likelihood of having depression symptoms later in life. The authors suggest this could be related to various environmental factors that mothers experience throughout the year, including changes in sunlight exposure.

Mika Mokkonen, one of the study’s authors, became interested in this topic after a casual conversation, where someone asked about the validity of horoscopes.

“The initial spark came from that small talk; it made me wonder if there might be a biological underpinning to such ideas, like how a birthday could correlate with mental or physical traits,” he shared with Gizmodo.

While it’s well-documented that seasonal changes can impact mental health—seasonal affective disorder being a prime example—there has been limited research connecting birth timing to mental health outcomes, according to Mokkonen.

Mokkonen and his team surveyed 303 adults online, collecting basic demographic details and responses to questionnaires designed to measure anxiety and depression levels. After adjusting for factors such as age and income, they found that men born in the summer were notably more likely to report symptoms of depression compared to their counterparts born at other times. Their findings were published in the journal PLOS Mental Health.

However, these studies can only demonstrate a correlation and not assert that summer births directly influence men’s mental health. The researchers acknowledged that their survey responses were gathered over just two months in early 2024, which might not fully capture variations in anxiety and depression scores. A significant portion of participants were college students, so the research isn’t comprehensive by any means.

This certainly points to the need for further studies to validate and explore this initial finding. There’s also the intriguing and likely complex issue of why being born in summer seems to affect men more than women.

The role of seasonality in the survival of species has been recognized for a long time. Mokkonen highlighted that while modern humans are generally more protected from nature’s extremes compared to our ancestors, seasonal variations could still subtly influence developing fetuses.

“It might relate to the environmental conditions experienced by the mother during pregnancy,” Mokkonen noted, mentioning factors like temperature and sunlight, which fluctuate throughout the year.

The research team aims to delve deeper into how other maternal influences, such as diet and hormone levels, can impact the future health of offspring. Interestingly, regardless of their birth season, a substantial number of participants reported experiencing anxiety (66%) and depression (84%). This suggests that while seasons might have some effect, mental health challenges are unfortunately quite common across the board.