How MTV's “16 and Pregnant” May Have Reduced Teen Pregnancy | Hacker News Reader

How MTV's “16 and Pregnant” May Have Reduced Teen Pregnancy

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105 pointsMaysonL51 comments

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-...

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.

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.

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.

Just three years ago, someone I knew had to find another gynecologist for the same reason.

Pure speculation. 1) Internet, followed by 2) Ubiquitous smart phones making it to teenagers -- and/or the laptops that also seem to be ubiquitous in education, these days.

A personal place to look things up, less monitored than the family or library computer.

(So, the other side of the "porn epidemic"? To be clear, not attributing porn per se, but rather range of information available to those who seek it out.)

private incognito searching? I'd agree. I'd never have looked up something like that when we had a "shared" computer in our living room. But if I'd had my own device? absolutely

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.

"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...

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

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.

>I have to wonder how effective those heavy-handed episodes of Family Matters or Home Improvement were.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bflYjF90t7c

Never doing drugs again.

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?

Not necessarily. As a society, we spend a lot more on Hollywood storytelling than we do on space exploration. And certainly more than a mission to Mars would cost.

iirc (from the talk) a mission to Mars will cost a few trillion dollars (I forgot the exact figure, but somewhere between $1T and $10T). That's a lot more than Hollywood storytelling.

Maybe with current technology. But as technology continues to advance things will continue to get cheaper. What costs a trillion dollars today could cost a couple billion dollars in a not so distant future

...if you ignore inflation :)

Technology does not advance in a vacuum (pun intended). When you say that you are ignoring that the technology advanced because some of those trillions were spent in research, even though the research has more goals than enabling a manned mission to Mars.

Really? I've never heard a figure that high. I think the estimates currently are about $50B, spread out over 10 years or so.

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?

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

i remember watching sneakers and feeling inspired at a young age!

You're looking at the costs vs benefits in isolation. We'd get far more than just a trip to mars.

Many of the technologies and research in to a wide range of medical fields (including long term isolation/social pressures) that are developed as a result of that endeavor would continue to pay dividends for generations after the trip.

However I am very much in favor of sending robots up first; build a place to actually go to and live in, then stock it with a lower order ecosystem, and THEN send anything we forgot with the human payload.

Is this an allusion to the faked moon landing conspiracy theories...?

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

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!!

I enjoy keeping up..., defo not horror show.

I just don't understand the negative reaction towards kardashisans. I consider them to be pioneers in their field, hackers of reality tv.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voDqfVthTpA

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?

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.

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

I think the prevalence of plan B has reduced teen pregnancy

This is interesting, but plan B has appeared by the FDA with no age restrictions or prescription in 2013 and the effects they analyse are from 2009-2010. The demand for it might be well driven by partly by "16 and pregnant".

Now if only MTV could make a show "16 with an STD", American teens might start using condoms as much as European kids.

I think "You Can't Pray the Baby Away" would be a more suitable title, considering the prevalence of the abstinence movement and their goals.

I weep for the children who gain such a burden so early in their lives.

I'm more concerned for the baby's prospects than the teens'. (Baby is utterly innocent.) The teen situation is also unfortunate, but was also of their own doing in almost every case.

Being misinformed due to the 'abstinence only' sex-ed. I wouldn't blame it on the teen, but on the education system, or the teen's parents who can't be bothered to teach birds and bees.

Misinformed how? It's not as if abstinence-only education claims babies come by stork.

Misinformed because they don't inform the kids about birth control. It's a sin of omission

It often claims things like condoms being ineffective against STDs or all sorts of birth control having far greater failure rates than in reality.

I was also taught: never carry a condom, because then you might be tempted to have sex. Instead of understanding that it's going to happen anyway, they teach that it shouldn't happen, so don't prepare for it.

Teens being denied access to proper and accurate sex education isn't their own doing.

I have significant shared frustration with that situation, but feel that even in those cases, the teens bear a non-zero amount of responsibility, which is larger than the baby.

Most teens can read and most have access to google.

>Most teens can read and most have access to google.

I can read and I have access to google, and for some reason I'm not a rocket scientist or a nuclear physicist. There is a reason that in most cases we don't consider (at least below 18) teens adults. They make bad decisions. We also know from study that teens make a higher number of bad decisions when the adults and culture around them feed them bad information.

Google is almost useless for things like this, your family and culture affect you far more.

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.

Not "every time", because I'd say this is the kind of thing that is supposed to happen just once... or twice.

We all have been horny after all, but having unprotected sex just because of it means you have another problem I'd say 8-)

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.

Why is reducing teen pregnancy good?

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.

Because there is a lot of evidence that teenage pregnancies lead to worse outcomes for the teen mothers as well as the newborn children.

In practice, "teen" pregnancy refers to "women without stable economic or family situation that makes them likely to be able to raise a healthy baby"

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