16 and Pregnant

16 and Pregnant is an American reality television series that aired from June 11, 2009, to July 1, 2014, on MTV.[1] It followed the stories of pregnant teenage girls in high school dealing with the hardships of teenage pregnancy. Each episode featured a different teenage girl, with the episode typically beginning when she is 4 12 – 8 months into her pregnancy. The episode typically ends when the baby is a few months old. The series is produced in a documentary format, with an animation on notebook paper showing highlights during each episode preceding the commercial breaks. 16 and Pregnant has spawned four spin-off series: Teen Mom, Teen Mom 2, Teen Mom 3 and Teen Mom: Young and Pregnant. Each series follows the lives of four girls from their respective season of 16 and Pregnant as they navigate their first years of motherhood.[2]

16 and Pregnant
GenreReality
Created byLauren Dolgen
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons5
No. of episodes62 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
  • Morgan J Freeman
  • Dia Sokol Savage
  • Lauren Dolgen
  • Jessica Zalkind
  • Andrew Portnoy
  • Sara Cohen
  • Janay Dutton
Camera setupMultiple
Running time43 to 50 minutes
Production company(s)11th Street Productions
MTV Production Development
DistributorViacom Media Networks
Release
Original networkMTV
Original releaseJune 11, 2009 (2009-06-11) 
July 1, 2014 (2014-07-01)
Chronology
Related shows

The fifth and final season premiered on April 14, 2014.[3]

Episodes

Season Episodes Originally aired
First aired Last aired
1 6 June 11, 2009 (2009-06-11) July 16, 2009 (2009-07-16)
2 19 February 16, 2010 (2010-02-16) December 21, 2010 (2010-12-21)
3 10 April 19, 2011 (2011-04-19) June 21, 2011 (2011-06-21)
4 12 March 27, 2012 (2012-03-27) May 29, 2012 (2012-05-29)
5 14 April 14, 2014 (2014-04-14) July 1, 2014 (2014-07-01)

Reception

Based on a preview of the show's first three episodes, The New York Times called the series a "documentary-style series about real-life Junos who are not scoring in the 99th percentile on the verbal portion of their SATs... despite its showcasing of the grim, hard work of single mothering."[4]

In 2011, the Social Security Administration reported that the names of one of the featured mothers and her son, "Maci" and "Bentley", were the names that saw the greatest increase in frequency over the past year.[5]

In 2016, a The New York Times study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that "similar to Teen Mom, 16 and Pregnant is more popular in rural parts of the country".[6]

Impact

In 2014, the National Bureau of Economic Research conducted and published a study suggesting a correlation between the premiere of the show in 2009 and a 5.7% decrease in teen births in the 18 months following the premiere. At the time, it was unknown whether this was due to the premiere of 16 and Pregnant or the recent economic decline.[7]

Research conducted in 2016 suggests that 16 and Pregnant was unlikely to have had any effect on teenage birth rates and prior research to be "problematic." The latest study reveals, through a series of placebo and other tests, that the assumption of common trends in birth rates between low and high MTV-watching areas is not met.[8]

References

  1. "MTV Chronicles the Challenges of Teen Pregnancy in '16 & Pregnant' Premiering on Thursday, June 11th at 10pm ET/PT". The Futon Critic. May 18, 2009. Retrieved July 11, 2013.
  2. Dehnart, Andy (September 3, 2009). "MTV pulls Making His Band, House of Jazmin; orders 16 and Pregnant spin-off Teen Mom". Reality Blurred. Retrieved July 11, 2013.
  3. "MTV's Original Groundbreaking Docu-Series Spotlighting the Challenges of Teen Pregnancy and Parenthood "16 and Pregnant" Returns on Tuesday, April 29 at 11PM ET/PT". The Futon Critic (Press release). MTV. March 20, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  4. Bellafante, Ginia (June 10, 2009). "Real Life Is Like 'Juno,' Except Maybe the Dialogue". The New York Times. Retrieved July 11, 2013.
  5. Marsh, Wendell (May 5, 2011). ""Maci" and "Bentley" soar in baby name game". Reuters. Retrieved July 11, 2013.
  6. Katz, Josh (2016-12-27). "'Duck Dynasty' vs. 'Modern Family': 50 Maps of the U.S. Cultural Divide". The New York Times.
  7. Wilson, Jacque (January 13, 2014). "Study: '16 and Pregnant' led to fewer teen births". CNN. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  8. Jaeger, David (Oct 31, 2016). "Does Reality TV Induce Real Effects? On the Questionable Association Between 16 and Pregnant and Teenage Childbearing" (PDF). Retrieved Jan 1, 2017.
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