Even though some people say shows such as ’16 and pregnant’ and ‘Teen Mom’ glamorize teen pregnancies, the rate of teen births have dropped even more since the television shows have aired in 2009. The shows show the challenges and struggles that come with getting pregnant at a young age, while still juggling high school. Between 1991 and 2008 teen pregnancy was dropping 2.5 % per year. Between 2010 and 2014 the rate has been dropping 7.5 % per year, and increasing. One in six 15 year old females will give birth by her 20th birthday. More than 750,000 teen girls in the United States learn they are pregnant each year, this number is the lowest in U.S. history.
Teen pregnancy rates have dropped more and more through the years. Since the show ’16 and Pregnant’ has aired, between 1991 and 2008, the rate has dropped an average of about 2.5 percent a year. Between 2010 and 2014, the rate has dropped 7.5 percent a year (Wilson 2). In 2010, the show ’16 and Pregnant’ was the highest rated television show in females ages 12 to 34 years old (Harwood 3). Jacque Wilson noted “16 and pregnant ultimately led to a 5.7% reduction in teen births in the 18 months after its premiere on tv” (1). It seems as the show got more popular that the number of teen births reduced. The show could be the reason for 20,000 less teen births in the year 2010 (Culp-Ressler 1). Phillip Leviene and Melissa Kearney say the number of teen pregnancy dropped 29.4 percent per every thousand in 2011 (1). Using media, such as television, is a good way to get messages to teenagers (Culp- Ressler 1). Phillip Levine, a professor at Wellesley College, told NBC News, “You could talk about it in a classroom environment and maybe it could have some impact, but this is much more c...
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...m have had more kids after being on the show, which is not discouraging young pregnancy (Debate.org 3.) Plus, the show hardly ever discusses abortion or any other health options for the young mothers (Cup-Ressler 2.) Some of the parents from the show are in the news for over using drugs, going to rehab, and going to jail (Culp-Ressler 2.) Young girls who watch 16 and pregnant or Teen mom may see the girls on 16 and pregnant as role models and follow in their footsteps (Debate.org 3.) Also, the show makes the teen parents celebrities, even after they are not on the show anymore (Culp-Ressler 2.) The point of the shows are too discourage young pregnancy not to make the young parents celebrities (Debate.org 3.) All of these may be true but, ever since the shows 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom have aired, the drop in teen pregnancy have dropped more than they ever have.
Teen pregnancy is a major issue in society today. In 2010, an estimated 614,400 U.S. teenagers became pregnant, approximately 89,300 had miscarriages, and 157,500 had legal abortions. Teens are having unprotected sex without knowing the consequences of the choices that the are making. Teens believe that sex is something new that they can try, so they can be popular like their peers. These accusations are wrong, having unprotected sex has major consequences, and by having unprotected sex these teens could be changing their lives forever. Who is to fault for these teen pregnancies? Is in the parents fault, the teens fault or is it our communities fault all together? I believe providing more information and awareness about teen pregnancy in our schools and community will reduce the number of teen pregnancies.
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.
Red and blue lights are flashing and the noise of the ambulance impels everyone to a point where they have to look outside and observe the situation, as if a mystical force was compelling them. From what they can see, the paramedic is holding a tiny hand telling her to hold on. As the stretcher rolls by, the onlookers notice a huge lump, or ball as a few may say, under the pallid cotton covers. What they also take note of is that the pregnant woman is not a woman at all, but in fact a teenager. As some are astounded that a child is being born from a child, others possibly will look at it as a “blessing in disguise.” The issue of teenage pregnancy is affecting our society in innumerable ways and has become one of our top social issues of all time. “The latest estimates show that approximately 1 million teens become pregnant every year” (East, Felice, and Associates 1). With this high number of teenage pregnancy, it is no wonder that many authors try to exemplify this common subject matter. Katrina L. Burchett, author of Choices, accurately and effectively depicts teenage pregnancy among female adolescents living with domestic issues.
Though opposers of these shows believe that tv glamorizes teen pregnancy, the show is far from that (Newswire 1). I recently viewed an episode of Leah and Jeremy on Teen Mom 2, and I still remember the scene where Leah had to take her baby girl named Addie to meet her dad so he could have time with his daughter. They had broken up when Leah found out that she was pregnant. Preparing for a baby was stressful for them both and Jeremy was afraid he would not be able to help support her and balance their relationship at the same time. It was difficult for Addie to understand why her mother was always upset. Leah faced many issues and arguments with her parents and even financial issues because her boyfriend Jeremy left her after the baby 's arrival and would not help pay to support their child. Jeremy was not willing to help work out the situation where Addie could have normal parents who lived together and were married. “Eight out of ten fathers do not marry the mother of their first child” (Slocum 3). This episode expressed how difficult it is to raise a child at a young
The birth rate among teens in the United States has declined 9% from 2009 to 2010, a historic low among all racial and ethnic groups, with the least being born in 2010; and in 2011 the number of babies born to adolescents aged 15-19 years of age was 329,797 (“Birth Rates for U.S.”, 2012). Although the decline in unwanted and unplanned teen births is on the rise the United States continues to be among the highest of industrialized countries facing this problem. This is a prevailing social concern because of the health risks to these young mothers as well as their babies. Teens at higher risk of becoming pregnant are raised at or below the poverty level by single parents; live in environments that cause high levels of stress (i.e., divorce, sexual psychological and physical abuse); are influenced by peers or family members that are sexually active; and lack parental guidance that would direct them to be responsible and self-controlled.
The District of Columbia is the 23rd most population city in the United States with a population of 658,893 (Census). According to UNICEF, teen pregnancy is defined as “A teenage girl, usually within the ages of 13-19, becoming pregnant” ((Link 1). Nationally in the United States, there has been a steady decline of teen pregnancy within the past decade. However, it is not occurring in the District of Columbia, specifically Southeast DC (Ward 7 and 8) which includes areas such as: Lincoln Heights, Twining, Anacostia and Woodland. As of 2011, DC was ranked number nine in the nation for the highest rate of teen pregnancy. For the total amount of births, only 908 were from young women who were below the age of 20 in Washington DC. About 879 were from young women that were around high school ages 15-19. Specifically, Southeast DC is a low-income area, with approximately ¼ of teen mothers going on welfare within three years after their child’s birth (Link 2). As of 2012, out of the 790 births from teenage mothers, more than half, or 457 of the births mainly occurred in the Southeast DC area (Link4). This area has been plagued through various social determinants of health. This includes having repeated cycles of poverty, lack of comprehensive sexual education, especially in regards to contraception and a lot of violence occurring as a result of crimes. Ward 7 has approximately 95% of its citizens being Black and 2.3% of their citizens are Hispanic(Link 5). While in Ward 8 have about 94% of their citizens that are Black and 1.8% are Hispanic. Between both wards, about 63% of households including both Blacks and Hispanics are living below the federal poverty line and about 37% of births from the 2010 census were from teenage mothers. Abo...
Studies show that within the last seven years there has been a dramatic drop in the number of teen pregnancies. Teen pregnancy is best known as, the act of getting pregnant between the ages of fifteen and nineteen. Teen pregnancy does not come with much of a history. In the past, (mostly in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s) it was common for girls to be married between the ages of fourteen and sixteen and give birth not long after. Some girls were having babies as young as thirteen and fourteen years old! During the times that young girls would bear children and be married so young, college and education was not an important factor. As a young girl you learned how to take care of your house, farm, laundry, crops, animals, husband, and children. The father was your main source of income. Obviously things in our time are very different. Over the years a growing importance for education and making a living on your own has become crucial to many women. It was no longer important to have children so soon, but to learn to be a strong, educated, and independent woman. Even now as time has gone by, the image of being a pregnant teenage girl has been glorified solely by media. It becomes less important to get an education so you can get a good job and be able to raise a child and give them a good life, and more important to get pregnant and get a chance to be worshiped nationally on t.v. for being pregnant and making all of your money through fame.
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.
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.
They may even be making the trend worse in times to come, by publicizing and even glamorizing the lives of young teen mothers and fathers. In recent years, television shows such as “16 & Pregnant”, ”The Maury Povich Show”, ”Secret Life of the American Teenager”, and “Teen Mom” have each played a role in portraying teenage pregnancy in a positive light. Some may claim that the shows are meant to serve as a way of educating our youth. In the past, teenage pregnancy has been an issue that infrequently was publicized in the media and was almost seen as taboo, and it most certainly wasn’t showcased. Recently, reality television shows with themes surrounding teenage mothers and fathers seem to be all the rage, and as a viewing audience, we are drawn to them. But do these so-called reality shows indeed show the reality of child rearing? I think not. The majority of these types of shows portray a twisted view of reality in that teenage pregnancy is relaxed, joyful, and even fun! Can you imagine the network ratings if they showed the real life of a teen parent, or any parent for that matter? Imagine the mom who has had little-to-no sleep for the past two days, has work or term paper deadlines to meet, and is holding a vomiting child with a temperature of 104°F in her arms, because that’s the only place this little
Teenage pregnancy has always been present in society. There is research stating that about half the women, born between 1900- 1910, who were interviewed were non-virginal at marriage (17 Ravoira). This contradicts some thoughts that premarital sexual behavior is something new. There was another study done in 1953, it found that one fifth of all first births to women were conceived before marriage (17 Ravoira). Even before our modern openness in discussing sexual behavior and acceptance that it does occur, it was quite routine. In earlier society, the incidence of teenage pregnancy was a moral problem. This was because people looked at the child as filius nullius (nobody's child), or illegitimate and the mother as bad, immoral, over- sexed, etc. (18 Ravoira). The child was being blamed for mearly being born, this is unfair to the child who had no fault in the matter (18 Ravoira). The real problem that was seen was the fact that the children were born out-of-wedlock. People seemed to have real difficulty accepting that the baby is still a baby no matter what conditions it was born under.
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.
Preventing teenage pregnancy has been a goal for many years now. Statistics have tried to keep up with the change in the teenage generation. Many people have different opinions on the subject of teen pregnancy, because to some people teens seem to be getting pregnant expeditiously in these times. People fail to realize that having a baby is a privilege to many people and not a problem. Many people take having a baby as a lightly. Getting pregnant and having a kid has many pros/cons. Having a child can be very hard on some people and cause them to break. When babies are brought into this world there are a lot of things to worry about. The greatest problem associated with teen pregnancy is financial instability. Most teens do not have the salary to support a child. In the prevention of teen pregnancy there are many things that are helpful. Abstinence is a for sure way of not getting pregnant. There are also other helpful ways to help prevent teen pregnancy, such as sex education and birth control. All of these things are essential in the helping to prevent teenage pregnancy.
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.