New survey shows teens find glamour in ’16 and Pregnant’
Apr 12, 2014, 4:43 PM | Updated: Apr 15, 2014, 9:25 pm
PHOENIX — A new University of Arizona study shows that a show on MTV that some say is making teenagers think twice about becoming a parent, may be actually doing the opposite.
According to the study, the show “16 and Pregnant, which shows the difficulties that pregnant teenagers face, is actually causing more of them to want to get pregnant.
U of A Professor Jennifer Aubrey said that teens were put to a “TV test” as part of the study.
“We had them watch an episode of the show, or an episode of another MTV show that had nothing to do with teen pregnancy,” said Aubrey. “We also surveyed them on how much they watch ’16 and Pregnant.’ We found that the girls who saw ’16 and Pregnant’ versus the other show, were less likely to think of teen pregnancy as a negative risk for them.”
Appearing on KTAR’s “Arizona’s Morning News Weekend Show,” Aubrey told hosts Becky Lynn and Bob McClay that the show makes teen pregnancy look glamorous.
“The show definitely shows the negative consequences of teen pregnancies throughout the episodes, but and teenager knows that these teen moms are getting all of this attention and monetary compensation from being on the show,” said Aubrey.
The survey is different from previous studies which said that the show leads to a decrease in teen pregnancies.
