MTV's 16 and Pregnant Helps Lower U.S. Teen Birthrates?

I heard the opposite actually...some teens were getting pregnant to get on the show.

I highly doubt that there are many teen girls out there who think that having a baby is fun and easy, regardless of whether or not they've seen the show. We have it pounded into our heads from a young age that babymaking is the worst thing that can happen to you - unless you're married, in which case it becomes the best!

Honestly, I think the show is exploitative. Maybe it had an effect on some teens, but the biggest effect will be made by mandating sex education that actually tells kids the truth about contraception. We wonder why the teen birth rate is so high, when half the nation's kids are being told that condoms don't work!

I'd never heard of this show before this moment, but it rubs me the wrong way. Why do people line up in droves to be exploited by reality television? I just don't get it.

My cousins dumped their boyfriends cause of this show.

They had pushy boyfriends who wanted sex and they said fuck it, after seeing how much work goes into having and raising a baby.

I actually really enjoy this show, and I am surprised that teenage girls are still stupid enough to continue risking pregnancy after seeing it.

The show really does show you how hard it can be, and what goes on through the whole pregnancy and afterwards.

I am more or less wondering when the hell Amber from Teen Mom (original 16 and Pregnant girls) is going to go to jail for being a nasty whore who treats her daughter like shit.

See I am very passionate about my son, I believe that if you bring someone into this world, you need to take care of them. Unfortunately not everyone has the same frame of mind on that matter.. but anyways, this is a touchy subject for me so I'll shut up now lol

I watch the show infrequently with friends for shits and giggles. Really it makes me sad that people don't seem to know how to use protection. A friend of mine got pregnant and she loved him so she didn't use a condom because she wanted to feel closer to him but she wasn't on the pill. As much as I love her, I just don't get it.

I watch this show, and I also talk with my 7 yr old about it. Never too early to start! Many of the girls on there say it was their first time having sex with someone, they didn't know what they were doing, and later on in the show, they do say how hard it is to have a baby, especially at that young an age.

Personally, I think it's sad that birth control/family planning is harder to find for anyone, and that sexual education isn't really addressed in schools anymore. A day or 2 here or there doesn't help educate an adolesent on what the good, the bad, and the ugly about sex can be.

All the articles I have read attribute the reduction in teen pregnancy to the severe recession. I've never seen the show but I think teens would mostly use it to support their own pre-conceived bias. If they are inclined to avoid teen pregnancy they would focus on the hardships as justification. If they are considering it - they would focus on the attention-getting aspects of the experience.

Teen pregnancy peaked in the 50s - so these days fluctuations are on the low end of the historical range - a good thing, I think mostly attributable to the overall reduction in fertility for the nation. Much of US population growth comes from immigration and immigrant families.

It is interesting that teens would get pregnant just to be on television. I think it says a lot about our society if that is a repercussion of this show.

it would not surprise me to find that teens would try to get pregnant on purpose to get on the show. our society is so messed up.

The show doesn't glamorize the lifestyle, despite what a lot may have said. It's a lot of screaming and crying, and that's the teens not the babies.

There are lots of teen girls out there, who think that they will finally have someone to love them if they have a baby. I was a teen mom. Got pregnant and had my son while I was 18. I hate the show, and I hate how these girls are pathetic - and the fact that they quite school, and depend on the boy is ridiculous. I stayed in school, and I went to prom 8 mos pregnant. I didn't depend on "him" for anything. Not even with him. Now almost 7 years later, I am happily married with a wonderful man who loves my son.

Again. I hate the show. Its not realistic in my opinion. If they want it to be realistic, don't pay the girls!

I did some quick digging online and came across a few different sources saying the girls are not paid until the end of the first season. It seems the girls get two seasons - pregnant and one year out from birth. After that it's a new set of girls, right? If so, then at max they get about $280,000 for those two years. The children are technically working so some of that money has to be legally set aside for them.

The show is good, in theory. But, I think it should be something that stops production for several seasons and then starts up again so there is less the chance of girls being able to "plan" to get on the show and instead be more of a docureality. Nobody likes a fame whore who is charged to care for an infant/small child.

Even still, teen pregnancy is nothing new. It was even at one time socially acceptable and expected. Now that there is so much more to do in life than just be a mother and wife for a woman's career choice, teen pregnancy is OMG the EPIDEMIC. (I'll save the biology lesson for some other time.)

At the end of the day I can go to sleep knowing that there are a handful of children who are going to get a really nice headstart to life. When the mothers mature and see the episodes again, they'll better be able to see. Hindsight is always 20/20, right?

What these girls need are mentors whom they respect and admire. There are a million opportunities for mistakes in the future, some are necessary and some should be avoided at all costs. It takes the right person at the right moment pointing it out to make a difference when dealing with this level of stubborness. I know, I used to be one of them.

I heard it has raised because girls are trying to get on the show

I wish that the magazines wouldn't put them on the covers and make them seem like celebrities. If you watch the show it does not glorify anything, they show how hard it is