NEWSdompost.co.nzTHURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2011 THE DOMINION POST A5

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‘New Zealand is a temperate, peaceful, ethical and developed nation in which children should flourish, yet it is actually onein which they experience some of the highest rates of adolescent morbidity and mortality in the OECD.’ Sir Peter Gluckman

Hannah Young, 14:A problem that’s been ongoing is

teenage depression and especially

suicide. I don’t think there’s a lot of

help for that sort of thing. I think

[we need] education not only for

students but for their parents as

well, because sometimes their

parents are not always going to know

how to help them.

Ryan Palmer, 14: Being a teenager is all about starting

to push the boundaries a little bit –

trying to fi gure out who you are, what

you like doing and want you want to

do. But at the same time you’ve got

to make sure that you don’t overpush

those boundaries and get yourself

into a dangerous situation.

Harrison Clare, 17:These days not

everyone confi des

in their parents, so

you can’t really get

good advice from

them because you

don’t want to tell

them what you’ve

been up to. There’s

technology – that

always gets brought

up, but Facebook

and internet

bullying, I personally

haven’t really seen

anything like that.

I think that’s cited

as a false source of

problems.

Francesca Ancillotti, 17:There’s a lot of kids that

do things because of their

upbringing – that makes

a huge difference to them.

Family violence and all that

sort of stuff is much more

of a problem than teenagers

being crazy with alcohol and

drugs. That should be much

more of a priority for the

Government.

Ethan Sagar, 17:A big problem

would probably

be drugs . . .

but it depends

who takes them

really. I’m from

Porirua – I used

to live in Elsdon

and it’s around

everywhere, like

down the road

there were houses

that sell drugs

and corner

shops that

sell booze

to people

who are

underage.

Francesca Ancillotti, 17:There’s a lot of kids that

do things because of their

upbringing – that makek s

a huge difference to them.

Family violence and all that

sort of f stuff is much more

of a problem than teenagers

being crazy with alcohol and

drugs. That should bbe much

more of a priority for the

Government.

agar, 17:oblem

robably

s . . .

pends

es them

m from

– I used

Elsdon

around

ere, like

e road

ere houses

drugs

ner

hat

ze

e

e.

YEAR 13 WELLINGTON HIGH SCHOOLYEAR 10 ONSLOW COLLEGE

It will take a generation to help Kiwi teensKate NewtonHEALTH

➤ ONLINEGo to dompost.co.nz to seeWellington high schoolpupils talking about theissues teenagers face.

➤ ONLINEGo to dompost.co.nz to seeWellington high schoolpupils talking about theissues teenagers face.

TROUBLED YOUTHAmong OECD countries, New Zealand has:

➤The highest youth suicide rate.➤The fifth-highest teen pregnancy rate.➤The second-highest road fatality rate for 15- to 17-year-olds.➤A child abuse rate four to six times higher than the leading countries.

And:➤A 2007 study found 34 per cent of high school pupils reported binge drinking in

the previous four weeks.➤Three-quarters of young people with depression receive no help.

Sir PeterGluckman:‘‘There’s nomagic bullet here.We’re going tohave to take along-term view.’’

IT WILL take a generation to turnaround the struggles facing ado-lescents, a comprehensive Govern-ment report says.

The report from the prime min-ister’s chief science adviser, SirPeter Gluckman, says one in fiveyoung New Zealanders will experi-ence problems as they grow upthat will affect the rest of theirlives.

Prime Minister John Key hassaid he will throw the weight ofhis office behind improving men-tal health support for young

people, which the report says is‘‘woefully deficient’’.

Child abuse, alcohol, bullyingand earlier sexual developmentare among issues singled out inthe report, which was written bytwo dozen researchers and can-vassed hundreds of New Zealand

and international studies. It findsmany adolescents’ problems canbe traced back to early childhoodand recommends investment in at-risk children and their familieswhile they are still very young.

Most of the report’s 11 recom-mendations are broad, but in-clude:❏ More mental health screening,prevention and treatment pro-grammes specifically for adoles-cents, along with a boost in thenumber of people trained to workwith young people.❏ Tighter alcohol regulations, in-cluding raising excise tax and apurchase age of 21.

❏ Creating new policy and pro-grammes based on scientific evi-dence, not anecdote or advocacy.

New Zealand is faced with a

paradox, the report says. ‘‘[This] isa temperate, peaceful, ethical anddeveloped nation in which chil-dren should flourish, yet it is actu-

ally one in which they experiencesome of the highest rates of ado-lescent morbidity and mortality inthe OECD.’’

Changing that would requiresustained effort over a decade orlonger and had to avoid advers-arial politics, Sir Peter said yester-day. ‘‘There’s no magic bullethere. We’re going to have to take along-term view.’’

Mr Key said teenage depressionwould be a priority.

‘‘I’m particularly interested inlending the weight of the office of[the] prime minister to issues ofmental health for young peopleand suicide.

‘‘While we’re somewhere offfrom having an action plan, I’veasked my officials to start workingwith Peter Gluckman to come upwith a series of recommenda-tions.’’

Any improvements would costmoney, but it was a ‘‘very worthy’’area.

Mr Key commissioned the re-port in October 2009.

THEY SAY➤Gay Keating, Public HealthAssociation: ‘‘Sir Peter isexplicit . . . Early interventionsreap long-term rewards that faroutweigh any short-term costs,particularly for children fromlow-income or disadvantagedhomes. We need politicalparties to do the right thing.’’

➤Neil MacLean, ChiefCoroner: ‘‘We’ve beenadvocating for that [earlychildhood and mental healthsupport] for years. . .The stark truth is that if wedon’t get it right with youngpeople, that’s $90,000 perperson in prison.’’

➤Hugh Norriss, MentalHealth Foundation: ‘‘We needto be looking at what you cando to stop problems in the firstplace. Our hope would be that. . . they don’t just pull outthings that might look goodbecause they’ll get short-termresults.’’

➤Peter Reynolds, EarlyChildhood Council:‘‘The chief science adviser’sreport challenges theGovernment to act boldly,to go with the scientificevidence, and redirectfunding to the earlychildhood sector.’’

Early childhoodAdolescents who are more likely to exhibitrisky behaviour can often be identifiedwhile they are still young children, thereport says.‘‘Children who will go on to exhibit apersistent pattern of antisocial behaviourcan be distinguished from their peers asearly as three years of age.‘‘It is now clear that early childhood is thecritical period in which executive functionssuch as the fundamentals of self-controlare established.’’It recommends the Government identify at-risk children while they are still very young,and invest in programmes to help boththem and their parents.Well-designed home visit schemes – wherea health or social worker visits the familyfrequently – are effective, as are pre-schoolcentre programmes for children withbehaviour problems.

AlcoholFar tighter restrictions on alcohol areneeded, the report says. Drink-drivingaccidents and binge-drinking are majorcontributors to the adolescent death toll,while many more teenagers suffer alcohol-related injuries or illness.It endorses the Law Commission’s recentreport and recommendations, includingraising the purchase age and increasingalcohol excise tax – both of which theGovernment has rejected. Prime MinisterJohn Key did not comment yesterday onwhether the Government would revisitthose recommendations.

Depression andother disordersUp to 20 per cent of young people sufferfrom depression and other mental healthdisorders, but many do not get the helpthey need.‘‘New Zealand has a woefully deficientnumber of mental health services that areaimed specifically at young people,’’ thereport says. ‘‘Furthermore, doctors,teachers, and parents are poorly trained toidentify those young people who might beat risk.’’It urged the Government to invest inscreening and support, saying three-quarters of young people with depressiongot no treatment or help.‘‘When they do recognise there issomething wrong, young people are oftenreluctant to seek help, particularly if this isfrom a mental health professional.’’