What Value Comes From Teen Pregnancy Reality TV Shows?

Teens and Reality Shows -- Pregnancy Issues

Do some Reality TV shows try to make it cool to get pregnant? What has been the effect that various Reality TV shows have had on teenage girls -- when it comes to issues like pregnancy and motherhood? Are these shows really providing good information to teen girls -- as regards their lives and their sexual activities -- or do the shows simply "sugarcoat" challenges that pregnant teens face (Sun, 2011). This paper delves into the issues surrounding Reality TV shows and teen pregnancy / motherhood.

The reality of TV shows on pregnancy for teens

It is possible the MTV shows like "Teen Mom" and "Teen Mom 2" and "16 and pregnant" are actually intended by the producers to warn teenage girls about the negative impacts of having babies while still in adolescence. And the shows may be having that very impact, according to a survey by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The study concluded that watching these reality TV shows has "…led to a 5.7% decrease in teen births," which apparently has accounted for "around one-third" of the decline in births by teenage girls since these TV shows were launched in 2009 (Gallant, 2014).

Reportedly, the rate of teen pregnancy has "stabilized at around 28 pregnancies per 100,000" girls (Gallant, p.1). The co-author for this study, Phillip B.Levine, an economist with Wellesley College in Massachusetts, said when an older teacher whose life seems pretty normal tells teen girls the bad things that can happen when they become pregnant, it might not leave a very strong impression. But seeing Reality TV shows with 16-year-old girls who actually are "…going through it and having their lives documented" could resonate much more powerfully," Levine asserts in the Gallant article. On the other hand, Alexander McKay, with the Sexual Information and Education Council of Canada, said he is "skeptical" that given everything researchers and sociologists know and understand about socioeconomic factors, and other relevant issues -- that tend to explain why teens get pregnant -- makes him skeptical that "the provision of information in a television show would have a meaningful impact on teen birth rates" (Gallant, p. 1).

An article in Time magazine suggest that these Reality TV shows may be creating a "distorted view of teen sexual activity" (Sun, 2011). These shows present an image and convey a perception that "…tremendous numbers of teens are becoming pregnant or becoming parents," according to Leslie Kantor, with the Planned Parenthood group that develops educational initiatives for teens (Sun, p. 2). By showing the consequences of risky behavior (no condoms in use) might help some teens, Kantor remarked; but sending the message that "everybody is having unprotected sex" is the wrong message to convey, Kantor continued (Sun, p. 2).

In 2011, about 330,000 babies were born to teen mothers in the U.S., and even though that is a decline from 2010 (368,000 babies to teen mothers), that is a lot of new babies hoping for good parental stewardship from teenage girls (Kemp, 2013). Nancy Irwin, a psychologist, is quoted as saying that Reality TV shows glamorize teen pregnancy; and Melissa Henson (with the Parents Television Council) explains that because teen moms on these reality shows get "instant fame," other teens have "a slanted view of teen pregnancy" (Kemp, p. 1).

There are many pertinent questions raised about these shows, including a question raised in Entertainment Weekly: "What will the babies think when they're old enough to see their early lives, and their young parents' every mistake, on tape?" The answer to that comes from one of the young teen moms, Maci Bookout, who doesn't want her son Bentley to watch it, because she fears he might be prejudiced against his father, Ryan. Why would Maci fear that? Because Ryan gave a "cold shoulder to parenting duties" during the first season of Teen Mom, and the reason Maci and Ryan broke up (Armstrong, 2010).

Are these shows glamorizing teen pregnancy? Maci Bookout insists she's not doing it to be famous or to make money. "I'm just doing it for educational purposes," she says. Amber Portwood from Indiana was put off by the question of glamorizing teen pregnancy: "If you think it's glamorizing teen pregnancy, I don't know what's wrong with you," she barked (Armstrong, p. 3).

Letizia Guglielmo is an English professor at Kennesaw State University, and she teaches in the Gender and Women's Studies Program at the university. She has written an essay in the book MTV and Teen Pregnancy: Critical Essays on 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom. An essay in the book titled "16 and Pregnant, Masculinity, and Teen Fatherhood: Reconciling or Reinforcing Stereotypes?" was written by Jennifer Beggs Weber and Enid Schatz.

The first main point in the essay is that the teen fathers are almost always portrayed in these Reality TV shows as "irresponsible, immature, and unwilling or unable to 'step up'" (Weber, et al., 2013). Weber explains that the intention of the script might be to discourage young girls from having sex with adolescent boys, since "…sex won't make him yours and a baby won't make him stay" (Weber, 125).

But moreover, Weber insists that the TV Reality shows reinforce a dominant cultural norm that fathers, particularly teen fathers, are not going to provide for their children nor even 'be there'" (Weber, 125). And the primary message in most of the shows is that in addition to the fact that motherhood is very challenging for adolescent girls, she will ultimately end up a "single teen mother" because fathers "are likely to be peripheral at best or leave altogether" (Weber, 126).