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Source: ONE News -
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The government has commissioned urgent research into the pressures facing young people after several recent teenage tragedies.
Sir Peter Gluckman, the government's chief science advisor, has been charged with the task of solving the large number of problems with New Zealand's adolescence.
"As we know there is a lot of suicide, a lot of acting out behaviours. A lot of young people are not doing well," Gluckman told TVNZ's Breakfast programme.
Although the report was commissioned nine months ago the deaths of three King's College students has made the research even more urgent.
Different aspects of teenage life will be investigated with areas including their medical and psychological well-being.
"It's so we can understand what factors allow some children to go through adolescence without a lot of problems and why sadly too many go through adolescence with a number of problems," says Gluckman.
The complexity of today's society is being blamed as part of the problem, as the period of adolescence has dramatically increased compared with 50 years ago.
Gluckman describes adolescence as the period between when hormones start working and the time that society accepts them as an adult. For many people this period can last 10 to 12 years.
"I think we underestimate the impact that our change in social structures has on our young people and the way they are growing up. So we have to think about the way we create our education systems from as early as pre-school and the way we, as parents, understand our role as parents."
Gluckman says he is not yet sure what changes can be made to reduce the pressures on young people.
"Over the next year, as this research unfolds, we will start coming up with not solutions but concepts that we, as a whole society, have to grapple with."
A preliminary report is expected to be completed in the next two months and a full report should be ready by the end of the year.
