Teen Pregnancy Research

The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world. In 2009, 2/3 of the births in the U.S. were from women under the age of 18, with over half of that number of births being unplanned (The Importance of Prevention). People sight many different reasons as to why this is so prevalent in the U.S. Things like peer pressure, absence of parents, rape, drinking, or ignorance on the subject are usually shown as causes. Recently however, people have laid blame on the media for glamorizing teen pregnancy (Langham).

Shows like MTV’s 16 and Pregnant, and MTV’s Teen Mom series have raised some concerns on what the media is portraying to girls. Jane Brown, a journalism professor at the University of North Carolina says, "It's the missing three C's: there's little commitment, no mention of contraception and rarely do we see negative consequences,” (“Teen Pregnancy, Hollywood Style”). Apparently, there are some people that agree with her. There are people speaking out who find the show “unrealistic” and “a train wreck”. There are even MTV blogs have comments from angry viewers saying to cancel the shows.

However, there are people who find MTV’s 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom beneficial.  82% of teens surveyed, age 12-19, said that these types of shows “help teens better understand the challenges of pregnancy and parenting” (The National Campaign).  Amber Portwood, a mom from season 1 of 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom feels like they show more of their hardships. "If you read the articles about the show, they do nothing but talk about how the show reveals how hard it is for all of us. It doesn't glamorize anything! It shows the heartache we've all gone through. We may be 'celebrities' because our face is out there, but it's only because we've done some bad things. That's not glamorous."(Teen Mom Stars to Kim Kardashian: Back Off!)