Becoming a parent can be an emotional experience, especially for young first time fathers. Now, a new study suggests that men who become fathers at a young age experience depression during the first few years of their fatherhood.

Published in the journal Pediatrics, researchers found that symptoms of postpartum depression increased on average by 68 percent over the first five years of fatherhood, especially for men who become fathers around 25-years-old and live with their children.

Postpartum depression is characterized as severe depressive symptoms that develop after the birth of a child. However, it is typically diagnosed in mothers. Lead study author Dr. Craig Garfield, a professor in pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said depression affects five percent to 10 percent of fathers. Postpartum depression affects around 10 percent to 15 percent of mothers.

The study looked at more than 20,000 young men who were participating in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The study began in 1994 and followed the subjects for 20 years. Every couple of years, the participants were asked to take a 10-question screening test for depressive symptoms, with questions asking whether they felt unhappy, tired or disliked.

The study found that out of roughly 10,600 young men who participated in the project, only one-third had become fathers by the time they reached 24 to 32-years-old. The study also found that a father's depression sources shifted over time. Fathers who lived with their children had scores that increased by an average of 68 percent within the first five years of their child's life. However the scores would not clinically diagnose the men as depressed.

"Many men started off with very low [scores], so even with that increase they probably wouldn't screen positive for depression," Garfield said, according to HealthDay. "But some would."

Researchers found that young fathers who did not live with their children showed an increase in symptoms in the years before entering fatherhood, but not during the first five years. Garfield said the results need additional research. The study did not prove that early fatherhood causes depressive symptoms; it only showed an association between the two.

Previous research has shown that depressed dads are more likely to neglect their kids. The researchers theorized that becoming a father at a young age places more stress on a dad's life. Some of the symptoms that may be linked with men suffering from depression included increased anger and conflict with others, alcohol or drug abuse, violent behavior, losing weight, and isolation.

"Parental depression has a detrimental effect on kids, especially during those first key years of parent-infant attachment," Garfield said. "We need to do a better job of helping young dads transition through that time period."