Identifying risk factors for postpartum depressive symptoms (PPD) in new fathers is critical for supporting the health and well-being of families. Nonetheless, extant research has neglected the unique experiences of Black fathers in the United States, who may be at an increased risk of developing paternal PPD symptoms. Informed by ecological systems theory, the proposed study examined the links between contextual risk factors (negative life events, inter-parental relationship quality, infant temperamental difficulty, and experiences with racism) and unmarried, Black fathers’ PPD symptoms, as well as the protective effects of structural social network characteristics. Structural network characteristics including density and transitivity describe the extent to which individuals within a social network are connected to one another. The inclusion of structural network characteristics represents a novel contribution to the literature on predictors of paternal PPD. We hypothesized that a) paternal PPD symptoms would be associated with more negative life events, greater temperamental difficulty, more experiences with racism, and poorer relationship quality, b) higher social network density and transitivity would be associated with fewer paternal PPD symptoms, and c) the associations between contextual risk factors and PPD symptoms would be attenuated when density and transitivity were high. A sample of 181 unmarried, Black fathers in rural Georgia with 3-6-month-old infants reported on depressive symptoms, negative life events, inter-parental relationship quality, temperamental difficulty, and experiences with racism. Social network interviews were conducted to assess connections between social network members. Results generally supported proposed hypotheses. Specifically, in main effects models more negative life events and lower quality inter-parental relationships significantly predicted more paternal PPD symptoms. Contrary to expectations, higher levels of temperamental difficulty predicted fewer PPD symptoms. Both density and transitivity in social networks predicted fewer PPD symptoms over and above the effect of other contextual risk factors. Tests of interaction terms supported some hypothesized moderating effects. Poor relationship quality was not associated with more depressive symptoms when transitivity was high. And temperamental difficulty was associated with fewer depressive symptoms when both density and transitivity were high. Findings speak to the protective effects of strong social network connections for the mental health of unmarried, Black fathers.