Prime Minister John Key's commissioning of urgent research to better understand the issues which can make adolescence a "powder keg" of bad decisions and risky behaviour has been welcomed by a University of Otago psychologist and a parenting counsellor.
The move is in response to the sudden deaths of two pupils from King's College in Auckland within the past few days.
Mr Key's chief science adviser, Prof Sir Peter Gluckman, said "a major project" was under way at Mr Key's request to look at the issues and what action could be taken to improve the lot of teenagers.
University of Otago Psychology Department head Prof David Bilkey said the initiative was timely.
"There is a wealth of data describing risk-taking behaviour in adolescents, and in recent years we have begun to understand why this behaviour occurs in terms of brain development.
"That is, the decision-making mechanisms of young adults are not fully developed until they are in their 20s.
The challenge will be to find out how best to use this new knowledge so as to drive policy change, to educate young people, their parents and teachers and as a consequence, to change behaviour."
Former Dunedin adolescent counsellor and Otago Daily Times parenting columnist Ian Munro was pleased the topic was being discussed by politicians and the greater community, but questioned how politicians could make the teens' lives safer.
"Experimenting and taking risks is an inherent part of being a teenager.
"I'm not sure how the lives of teens can be made safer by politicians.
It requires those who know the individuals to put up safety barriers.
"Teenagers' safety comes back to the parents," he said.
Prof Gluckman described the "tragic behaviours" involved in the recent deaths as extremely upsetting for communities and families, but common across the Western world.
Teenagers were becoming sexually mature much younger than in preceding generations, resulting in a greater gap between it and the development of mature brain function.
Add to this a more complex society, with advanced technology, and there were increased risks as immature brains attempted to process and manage all the information and its consequences, he said.
"As a society, we will need to reflect on how programmes in child care, family support, health, education and justice should be adjusted to take account of a new biological reality."
Prof Gluckman said the report to the Government, expected to be completed in the next few months, would assemble the latest evidence on strategies being used in New Zealand and overseas "to improve the passage of young people through this difficult period".
