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16 & Pregnant is a TV show aired on MTV that as the name suggests, focuses on the lives of various teens who are pregnant whilst still in high school; each tells a different story. In these episodes, viewers are able to observe the struggles these teens face as a result of pregnancy during pubescent development. Controversy has been made as a result of the release of this show; this left viewers torn between whether 16 & Pregnant discourages teen pregnancy or shrouds it within curiosity. There is more than sufficient evidence to say that 16 & Pregnant, does in fact discourage teen pregnancy for various reasons. According to the New York Times report, the National Bureau of Economic Research compared Nielsen television ratings to birth records, and concluded that in areas where teens viewed MTV more after the debut of 16 & Pregnant, there was a rapid decline of teen pregnancy rates when compared to other areas that viewed it less frequently although some believe the show glamorizes the subject matter. Some also believe that it encourages the teens to disrespect their parents in every way possible; quite to the contrary, watching 16 & Pregnant is very beneficial to discouraging teen pregnancy and family problems by displaying the hardships these teens face, teaching the importance of completing high school and encouraging viewers to use various contraceptives methods or practice abstinence.
Throughout the various seasons of 16 & Pregnant, the hardships faced are constantly displayed to discourage teen viewers from becoming pregnant. It demonstrates the many difficulties teen mothers deal with before and especially after pregnancy. One of the hardships shown in the series is the increased strain in the relationship. The teens who s...
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...trop, K., Brown, J., & Ortiz, R. (2010). “Science Says #45: Evaluating the Impact of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant on Teens' Attitudes about Teen Pregnancy”. https://thenationalcampaign.org/resource/science-says-45 (accessed March 25 2014)
Lowrey, A. (2014). MTV’s ‘16 and Pregnant,’ Derided by Some, May Resonate as a Cautionary Tale. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/13/business/media/mtvs-16-and-pregnant-derided-by-some-may-resonate-as-a-cautionary-tale.html (accessed April 13 2014)
“Do shows like 16 and Pregnant encourage or discourage teen pregnancy?” (2014). http://www.secureteen.com/peer-pressure/do-shows-like-16-and-pregnant-encourage-or-discourage-teen-pregnancy/ (accessed March 25 2014)
Heather. (2014). “Are they together? A list of all couples from 16 & Pregnant.” http://teenmomtalk.com/are-they-together-a-list-of-all-couples-from-16-pregnant/ (accessed April 16 2014)
The MTV series 16 And Pregnant and its follow up series titled Teen Mom is a documentary like series that first aired in 2009 on June 11 and since then has had many seasons and sequels to follow it. Each episode in the series focuses on several young girls for 5-7 moths while they have to deal with the struggle of teenage pregnancy and “life after labor”. The initial idea or the show was to promote teen pregnancy prevention but, with many of the girls behaving scandalously and recklessly during the series, the show has become one of the most controversial on MTV.
Langham, Ph.D., R. Y. "What Are the Causes of Teenage Pregnancy?" livestrong.com. N.p., 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 26 Dec. 2013.
The female teen stares into the eyes of her newborn son, not realizing the type of life her and her son will have in the near future. Katrina L. Burchett excellently explicates teenage pregnancy among female adolescents living with domestic problems in her book titled Choices. The various elements that aid to the wide range of teenage pregnancies in the world should all be taken in to consideration. Getting pregnant at an adult is no longer substantial or conventional in our society. Everyday, female young adults are getting pregnant, which is why it is a social issue for the youth today.
For example, Aubrey, Behm-Morawitz and Kim state, “Girls who watched "16 and Pregnant,"… reported a lower perception of their own risk for pregnancy and a greater perception that the benefits of teen pregnancy outweigh the risks” (qtd. in Lori Harwood). In other words, due to the fanciful perception this program transmits,
...he realization of having sex to young and getting pregnant. Even though these shows reveal some struggle that these young girls have being pregnant and having to raise a child at a young age, I also believe it shows the fascination of it, young girls are impressionable and they only see the families helping these girls, the fun to play dress up and buy nice things for a baby. To a girl that may just want to feel loved or have something to love these shows may give the wrong impression of the way to receive it. I do not believe any show of this nature can help the generation of the girls today. I believe any television show or music that exploits sex, nudity, or body image should be banned or never published to save this generation. Social media needs to have stricter bans with signing up to their sites to try and eliminate under age children to experience it.
America has one of the largest pregnancy rates in teens in the whole world (“Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media”). Pregnant teens have to make many hard choices. They must decided to keep the baby or not., and to continue on with school. or not. Teens moms can lose everything they’ve worked for after one bad decision. Sex is in teens lives because of media influence.
Teen mom and 16 and Pregnant are TV shows about pregnant teens that are struggling to raise their kid and going through different obstacles in order to graduate high school and become successful. Both of the shows relate to teen pregnancy because they’re both shows about pregnant teens. “Instead of really helping viewers understand the day to day responsibilities of attending to a new infant, MTV chooses to focus on the girls’ volatile relationships with the babies’ fathers or their body piercings and tattoo,” Parents Television Council Director, Melissa Henson wrote on CNN.
There are various reasons as to why this is such a large social problem. There is not a clear answer as to why teens are going out and having sex at such young ages except for the fact that they are just curious or are trying to rebel. Becoming pregnant is an unanticipated consequence for most teens because they did not think it would happen to them. In reality, there are countless teen pregnancies each year. “In 2002, 757,000 pregnancies occurred among females aged 15-19” (Hedman, Larsen, Bohnenblust, 2008). The media also contributes to the blow up of teen pregnancy. There are news stories, 20/20 studies, and even shows that follow the lives of pregnant teens. T.V. shows such as 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom try teaching viewers what troubles a teen mother faces. The realism of these shows can be misleading and can give other teens false truths about what a teen motherhood is really like.
Women’s Health Weekly. “MTV Reaches Out to Teens to Prevent Teen Lisa Krueger.” Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Polk Community College - CCLA. 28 Mar. 2011
Can the broadcasting of shows such as these, where the young audience is exposed to the media images of pregnant teenagers, have a positive effect on how teenagers view teen’ pregnancy and contraception? If shows like this can in fact influence behaviours in a positive way, then it would have a productive effect on how we as an audience see the impact that the media can
Accessibility to sexualized TV shows, music, and written media at a constant rate and capacity makes it easy for this information to reach America’s youth. In the journal article, “Impact of the Media on Adolescent Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors” Liliana Escobar-Chavez et al examine the effects of mature media on younger populations, stating, “ The mass media have been shown to affect a broad range of adolescent health related attitudes and behaviors... one largely unexplored factor that may contribute to adolescents sexual activity is their exposure to mass media” (303). The youth’s main source of nudity and sexual exposure comes from music videos. Escobar et al state, “one fifth to one half of the music videos portray sexuality or eroticism” (315). The article continues, presenting effects from a study conducted on 1,533 9th graders after watching erotic music videos. Escobar Chavez et al found that, “adolescents who had just watched an hour of MTV videos were more likely to report approval of pre-marital sex than those who had not” (315). Increasing rates in adolescent sexuality instantly creates a normality of expressing interest in nudity at a younger age, making the youth more comfortable with their bodies to want to express themselves sooner than earlier generations ever have. Alternatively, the increase in nudity tolerance and acceptance can additionally be due to the comedic relief that comes along with most nude or sexual scenes in TV shows and movies. The journal article, “The Naked Subject: Nudity, Context and Sexualization in Contemporary Culture” Rob Cover examines how comedy can lighten the topic of nudity and increase comfort levels when being nude or surrounded by nudity. Cover states, “ nakedness has sometimes connoted vulnerability, humiliation or comic transgression: almost compulsory in teenage comedies is a scene of male nudity in a public space for comic purposes”
It is interesting to notice that two popular medias come together to make an impact in a cause. Although, initially when these shows were aired, many believed they are only going to contribute to the problem. However, as the shows progressed, the curiosity among the teens increased to learn the outcome of the teen’s life in the stories. The teens started communicating with their friends through the social media on what they have seen in these shows. As the show progressed, it did not only show the reality of the social and economic hardships faced by teen moms after giving birth to a child at a very young age but also educated teens by making them realize the hardship that lie ahead of a pregnancy. The critical part of realization comes from the discussions with their social media friends and the discouragement they receive which helps in educating the teens of pregnancy. This is evident from a spike in the Twitter and Facebook activities among teen population following the day of the shows.
The concept of comprehensive social intervention has been defined as the process of identifying social problems in an attempt to eradicate them. In looking at the broad range of social characteristics and the behavior associated with teen pregnancy, it is obvious that the emphases placed on the effort to recognize and alleviate teen pregnancy can be celebrated through the effectiveness of education, family planning, and abstinence. However, the attempt to analyze and deal with the cause-and-effect relationship with teen pregnancy is an attempt in understanding the social world itself. In 2006, statistics show that there was a significant increase in teen pregnancy after a decade long decrease. The potential for understanding this increase motivates us to look beyond simple explanations for cause-and-effect behavior and to look at what interactions may be occurring between variables that result in specific behaviors or social conditions. What is it that influences behavior? In looking at teen pregnancy in the realm of the family, it is evident that a large number of family structures have evolved, or perhaps devolved, into a variety of combinations which challenge responsible parents to consistently expose their children to the role models and the types of behaviors that are important for their children to emulate as they mature. People are molded by circumstances and experiences, all of which can positively or negatively influence our behavior.
Teen pregnancies often carry additional health risks to the baby and the mother. Basically, they lack timely and suitable prenatal care hence posses a higher risk for pregnancy related complications such as the high blood pressure. The mother also risks the life of the baby due to the premature birth. The teen mother experiences a tremendous dilemma after realizing that some physical changes are substantiating her pregnancy. Mostly such teen’s lacks the courage to explain what they are going through to her parent. Generally, many perform their duties routinely as they l...
Attention Getter: Nowadays, no one is astonished by the presence of pregnant or parenting teenagers. In fact we have a fascination with pregnant adolescents which is evident in the creation of “16 and Pregnant,” a MTV series that follows the real-life stories of American youth who have engaged in sexual activity and who have realized that reproduction system works because they are or will be parents to a cute baby boy or girl. We watch this series in anticipation of the child’s birth and to witness how the teen parents cope.