Young dads are also at risk of postpartum depression, a new study finds. However, experts caution that having children at a young age does not necessarily mean the young father will develop clinical depression.

According to results from the new study, young fathers can experience depression from the time their child arrives through the child’s early years.

Researchers discovered that men who fathered a child in their 20s and lived with the child experienced an increase in depressive symptoms within the first five years of fatherhood.

An important finding of the study is that although early childhood can lead to depressive symptoms, there is no direct link between the two events, but rather an association.

Associate professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Craig Garfield, told WebMD, “But this does show us a time period where fathers are at increased risk.”

The study results indicated that depressive symptoms among young fathers increased an average of 68 percent over the first five years of fatherhood, particularly for men who were around the age of 25 when they became fathers.

Garfield told USA Today that, “There’s been a significant body of literature describing the effect of mother’s depression on child development, and the health care system has tried to rise to the challenge of identifying mothers with depression.”

He adds, “Fathers have not been on the radar screen until recently. Now we know that … right around the time of the birth is an important time to try and capture and screen those dads.”

According to Garfield, depression impacts between five and 10 percent of fathers, while anywhere from 10 to 15 percent of women will experience maternal depression after their baby is born.