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Prime Minister John Key has commissioned urgent research to better understand the issues which can make adolescence a "powder keg" of bad decisions and risky behaviour, says his chief science advisor.
Sir Peter Gluckman said "a major project" was under way at Key's request to look at the issues and what action could be taken to improve the lot of teenagers.
The news comes after the sudden deaths of two students from Auckland's Kings College within the past few days.
Sixteen-year-old James Webster died on May 8 after a drinking a bottle of vodka.
Michael Treffers, 15, was admitted to Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition after an incident at a Southern Motorway overbridge about 10.30pm on Sunday.
His life support was turned off yesterday.
Gluckman described the "tragic behaviours" involved in the deaths as extremely upsetting for communities and families, but common across the Western world.
Adolescence was a complex issue and there would be no "quick fixes", he said.
Teenagers were becoming sexually mature much younger than in preceding generations, causing a greater lag than ever with the development of brain function.
Latest evidence indicated that the human brain was not fully mature until between 20 and 30 years of age, Gluckman said.
"Importantly, those areas of the brain that are involved in impulse control and judgement are the very last areas of the brain to mature.
"In this way, our ability to think and behave like fully-fledged adults may not occur until well into the second decade of life."
Add to the mix a much more complex society, with the advanced technology of television, internet, texting, and social networking sites, and there were increased risks as immature brains attempted to process and manage all the information and its consequences, Gluckman said.
"As a society, we will need to reflect on how programmes in childcare, family support, health, education and justice should be adjusted to take account of a new biological reality."
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".
