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Teen pregnancy in the U.S. remains a public health challenge. Economists sought to determine the effect of “16 and Pregnant” (a reality show introduced on MTV in 2009) on adolescent sexual behavior. To examine changes in information-seeking associated with the show, investigators used Nielsen ratings data to capture geographic variation in viewership, as well as data from Google Trends and Twitter on searches and tweets about birth control and abortion. They also evaluated national vital statistics to measure changes in teen birth rates.
Results of this analysis indicated that upticks in searches and tweets regarding birth control and abortion coincided closely with the airing of new episodes of “16 and Pregnant” and that regions with higher viewership experienced greater reductions in the rate of teen births during the 18 months following the show's introduction.
Kearney MS and Levine PB.Working Paper No. 19795: Media influences on social outcomes: The impact of MTV's 16 and Pregnant on teen childbearing. NBER 2014 Jan; J13:L82. (http://www.nber.org/papers/w19795)
Comment
Although it's hard to put much weight on any analysis of teen pregnancy rates that doesn't consider access to or use of contraception, it's reassuring that “16 and Pregnant” does not seem to be increasing the likelihood of teen childbearing.