
How MTV's “16 and Pregnant” May Have Reduced Teen Pregnancy - MaysonL
http://conversableeconomist.blogspot.com/2015/12/how-mtvs-16-and-pregnant-reduced-teen.html
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nommm-nommm
The teen pregnancy rate in the United States is falling dramatically. It just
reached a historic low and has dropped by 61% since 1991.

However, nobody really knows why. Theres a lot of hypothesises going around
(this being one) but the real reason is probably a combination of many
factors. There is probably a positive feedback effect going on as well,
lowering teen pregnancy leads to even lower teen pregnancy.

I read an article several months ago that gave (I believe) 9 factors that
probably play a role.

Theres also a lot of successful programs going on at a very local level in
many cities/towns/states such as this one in Colorado -
[http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-colorado-lowered-their-
teen-...](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-colorado-lowered-their-teen-
pregnancy-rate-by-40/)

Addressing the teen pregnancies caused by birth control failure - The American
Academy of Pediatrics just released their recommendations that IUDs should be
a first line contraception for teenagers. 10 years ago they were only
recommended for parous women (those who have given birth). The importance of
this can't be overstated - IUDs are extremely effective as well as reduce the
chance of human error to basically zero and require no maintenance by the
user.

I strongly caution giving too much credit to any one thing.

Its all very fascinating stuff.

~~~
thrownaway2424
Yeah in the 90s a friend of mine wanted to get an IUD but her gynecologist
objected on the grounds that they were not appropriate for young women. I
wonder if the technology changed, or just the doctrine.

~~~
nommm-nommm
No technology, just doctrine.

There was a bad IUD with a design flaw back in the 70s called Dalkon Shield
which injured and killed many women and lead to many lawsuits and settlements.
Dalkon Shield gave IUDs a bad rap in the United States and lead to a cultural
idea that IUDs in general were risky.

Now that IUDs are finally being accepted as a method of birth control for
young and nulliparous women and teens there are new ones coming out designed
specifically for them. Which is great, both from an individual and public
health perspective.

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ddingus
I made sure my kids knew it was ok to watch things like this. We also had a no
taboo policy that applied to anyone in the house.

Quite a number of my kids peers took advantage of that. Their questions and
topics of discussion were often challenging and enlightening.

I like to think the lower rates are partially due to much greater information
access possible today. "Open and safe houses" are still important, which is
why we did it, but there are more options for young people to get informed
than we or our parents had.

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cfcef
"Levine easily admits that 16 and Pregnant is unlikely to be the entire story.
One data point his theory has trouble explaining is the steep decline in teen
pregnancy rates between 2012 and 2013, long after the MTV shows' ratings had
peaked.

"The continuing, rapid decline is the part I find a little confusing," he
said. "The recession and the show get you a lot of the way through 2011 and
2012. But I was a bit surprised by the most recent, rapid decline in the 2013
data."

[http://www.vox.com/2014/8/20/5987845/the-mystery-of-the-
fall...](http://www.vox.com/2014/8/20/5987845/the-mystery-of-the-falling-teen-
birth-rate)

~~~
enave
After the show peaked girls who had grown up watching it entered puberty. They
remembered the lessons

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TheGRS
I had heard about this a few years ago and I find it fascinating.
Entertainment being used for good! Its interesting how effective this
particular show has been, so I have to wonder how effective those heavy-handed
episodes of Family Matters or Home Improvement were.

I'm sure there are many examples of a TV show heavily impacting stuff that we
encounter in our everyday lives, but I also would recommend reading The Power
of Habit, as it has a whole chapter about how TV was used to effectively get
people to start brushing their teeth before bedtime.

~~~
hkmurakami
I once sat in a talk by a NASA Ames director (?) about his belief that even
the tremendous cost for a manned mission to Mars would be "worth it" for the
inspiration it would provide to the youth of the country to pursue STEM
fields.

But then I thought -- wait, wouldn't it be much cheaper if we could harness
the same kind of inspiration through Hollywood storytelling?

~~~
mziel
I think this is happening to a degree. I know of a guy, whose younger brother
started reading up on physics after Big Hero 6.

Also didn't older tech-related movies on hackers inspire some of us?

~~~
endgame
Given the way the "Hackers at 20" article resonated, I'd say the answer is
"YES":
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10220853](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10220853)

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andrewclunn
Well watching Hoarders does make me feel a sudden urge to clean...

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SFLemonade
Logically speaking, we could apply this the other way as well, right? I wonder
what horrors shows like "Keeping up with the Kardashians" and "Housewives of
Beverly Hills" have done to our society. "But it's just entertainment, I don't
take it seriously"......bullshit Karen, bullshit!!

~~~
saym
I don't know why you chose Karen, but the name reminded me of that Goodfellas
scene.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voDqfVthTpA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voDqfVthTpA)

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unclebucknasty
Interestingly, the rates of vaginal intercourse among teens don't seem to have
been explored as part of the study. Don't see that mentioned in the discussion
here either.

Seems an important question. Are they actually getting pregnant less per
occurrence of vaginal intercourse, or are they simply having less vaginal
intercourse?

------
salmonet
I guess there are a lot of other things that may have been responsible, but I
can believe it. I just saw blackfish and was impressed with how much that
changed public opinion. Bernie and Goodfella got people out of jail.

------
dang
Related:
[http://www.statnews.com/2015/12/23/20367/](http://www.statnews.com/2015/12/23/20367/).

------
swang
Has "Sweet Sixteen" caused teens to be more frugal for their birthday parties?

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incardone
I think the prevalence of plan B has reduced teen pregnancy

~~~
Chromozon
I would caution this thinking. Plan B pills are very expensive- $50 at your
local Walgreens. Teenage pregnancies are highest in areas with high income
inequality. Most of these families are living paycheck to paycheck, and the
kids have no money. They cannot simply walk into a store and plop $50 on the
counter after every time they have had unprotected sex.

~~~
nommm-nommm
Unfortunately it isn't widely known that Plan B can be gotten at Planned
Parenthood for cheap to free. When I was poor and 50 dollars would break the
bank I went to Planned Parenthood hoping they'd have better prices than the
pharmacy. I nearly fainted (in a good way) when they gave it to me free, no
questions asked. I couldn't have been more thankful.

To be honest I think the pharmacy prices are a sham. Extremely disappointing
from a public health perspective.

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im2w1l
Why is reducing teen pregnancy good?

~~~
drdeca
Assuming that you accept the principles:

a)babies are people

b)it is bad for people who are unable to care for themselves to be without
care

c)teenagers would often be unable to care for their babies

one reaches the conclusion that, if teenagers were to have babies, often they
would be unable to care for them, and this would be bad.

Therefore, reducing the rate of teenagers having babies is good (because it is
preventing a bad thing, and not at the cost of another bad thing)

Generally, teenagers are not mature enough to raise children by themselves,
or, they are at least less well suited than someone a bit older would be.

