We investigate whether the show influenced teens’ interest in contraception and abortion, and ultimately whether it led to changes in teen birth outcomes. We use Google Trends and Twitter data to record changes in searches and tweets caused by the show, Nielsen ratings data to understand geographic variations in viewership, and demographic birth data. to measure changes in his teenage birth rate.we discovered it pregnant at 16 years old This led to an increase in searches and tweets about contraception and abortion, ultimately leading to a 5.7 percent drop in teen births in the 18 months following its introduction. This accounted for about one-third of the overall decline in teen births in the United States over the same period.
introduction
How exposure to media images influences viewer behavior is a long-standing unanswered question. Policy advocates and cultural observers are particularly concerned about the effects of exposure to sexual and violent content on youth behavior.In some circles, the idea that teenagers respond to media content is a foregone conclusion, but determining whether media images themselves cause that behavior is an extremely difficult empirical task.[1]. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of his widely viewed MTV show. pregnant at 16 years old, about teen attitudes and outcomes. The show aims to show the difficult reality of being a teenage mother. As documented below, pregnant at 16 years old It attracted a large audience among relevant subpopulations. One clear indicator of the show’s success is the spin-offs it has spawned. Teen Mom, Teen Mom 2, and Teen Mom 3. Exposure to media images of pregnant teens and young mothers who become young mothers may influence how teens think about pregnancy and ultimately how they themselves become teen mothers. Did it influence whether or not they became a teenager? If so, this has important implications for thinking about how to effectively communicate with teenagers and influence their behavior. It will be.
The state of teen childbearing in the United States makes this issue an important one to study. In 2012, 29.4 out of 1,000 girls (2.94%) between the ages of 15 and her 19 years gave birth in the United States. This rate is significantly higher than in other developed countries, with typical teen birth rates often ranging from 5 to 10 births per 1,000 girls in this age group (Kearney and Levine, 2012a). Although still an outlier internationally, the U.S. teen birth rate has declined dramatically over the past two decades, down from 61.8 births per 1,000 teenage girls in 1991. This decline occurred in her two different waves. Between 1991 and 2008, it declined almost continuously from 61.8 to 40.2, corresponding to an average annual decline of 2.5 percent. Over the next four years, her teen birth rate declined even more rapidly, from 40.2 to her 29.4, or 7.5 percent per year.
Timing of MTV introduction pregnant at 16 years old It is thought that this may have contributed in some way to the recent extremely rapid decline. Since its introduction, various observers have made conflicting claims about the show’s influence on teenagers.Some have highlighted the show’s focus on the difficulties of raising children at such a young age, and this fortuitous timing suggests that the show may be a contributing factor to the recent decline in teen birth rates. We conclude that at least some of the blame lies with[2]. Others argue that the show glamorizes teenage pregnancy, with the performers essentially becoming media “stars” whose lives are followed in the tabloids long after the show airs. There is.[3].
This paper utilizes data from a number of sources to investigate the impact of MTV programming. Specifically, he investigates three questions: (1) Was the exposure to the show substantial? (2) Did the exposure to the show influence teens’ interest in contraception and abortion?[4](3) Have the show’s introduction changed teen birth outcomes? We use Nielsen ratings data and exposure data, including how often individuals search for the show on Google and tweet about it on Twitter. We use several measures to evaluate. We use data on how often teens include terms like contraception and abortion in their searches/tweets to measure their impact on teens’ decision-making processes.[5]. Finally, we use vital statistics birth microdata to examine the impact on teen birth rates.
We use multiple empirical approaches to answer these questions. First, we present a descriptive analysis using several data sources to measure exposure. Nielsen ratings data is a direct indicator, but you can also look at high-frequency data (daily or weekly) available from Google Trends and Twitter to search for and tweet show titles on the day or week a new episode airs. You can also look for time series spikes in . It will be released. We then perform a similar analysis using high-frequency data from these sources to examine the increase in searches and tweets for terms such as “contraception” when searches/tweets for the show title spike. Third, we exploit the geographic variation in the data to determine which locations had relatively high levels of searches/tweets. pregnant at 16 years old During the broadcast period of the program, there are relatively many searches and tweets related to things like contraception.
Fourth, we exploit geographic differences in a measure of program viewership (captured by ratings) to investigate whether differences in exposure to programs led to differences in changes in teen birth rates . It corrects for the fact that regions with high teen birth rates are likely to have higher interest in programs about teen pregnancy. Geographic fixed effects hold time-invariant factors constant. Areas where teen births are increasing (or declining more slowly) may also receive greater attention. To fix this, we implemented an instrumental variable (IV) strategy and pregnant at 16 years old Audience ratings using a broad measure of MTV viewership for previous periods. The characteristic assumption of the IV approach is that her MTV ratings in the period before the show airs are unrelated to her subsequent trends in teen childbirth.
The results of our analysis are pregnant at 16 years old The study found that the percentage of women with disabilities was high and had an impact on how teenagers thought about contraception and abortion. Significant spikes in search activity and tweets about the show are evident right when a new episode is released. There has also been a related spike in Google searches and Twitter messages containing the terms “contraception” and “abortion.” Places where the show was more popular saw more increases in such searches/tweets during the show’s run.
Our most important discovery is pregnant at 16 years old In conjunction with partner programs, teen mom and teen mom 2birth rates among teenagers dropped significantly.[6]. We estimate that these programs reduced her possible teenage births by 5.7 percent between June 2009, when the programs began, and the end of 2010. It is suggested. This could explain about a third of the total decline in her teenage births over this period. That period. Although data limitations do not allow us to analyze pregnancy and abortion separately, we note that teen abortion rates also declined during this period (Pazol, et al., 2013). This suggests that the show’s effect is due to a decrease in pregnancies rather than an increase in abortions.
[1] When it comes to sexual behavior, evidence has been cited that teens who watch sexual content on television are more likely to become pregnant as teens. For example, popular press articles by Stein (2008) and Tanner (2008) cite evidence from Chandra et al. (2008). However, such evidence does not separate the effects of exposure from the specific types of individuals’ choices to view such content.
[2] For example, see http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2010/1221/A-force-behind-the- lower-teen-birthrate-MTV-s-16-and-Pregnant and http:// please. blog.thenationalcampaign.org/pregnant_pause/2011/11/us-teen-birth-rate-drops-a-dra.php.
[3] http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/05/04/henson.teen.mom.show/index.html?_s=PM:OPINION, accessed June 18, 2013.
[4] Ideally, a complete analysis of the program’s effects on behavioral outcomes such as sexual activity and contraceptive use would also be conducted. To do so, we sought to use his 2007, 2009, and 2011 data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS) system. These data have been collected every two years since 1991 in odd-numbered years among high school students who completed surveys at school. However, a major drawback to using these data for this purpose is that the sample size of youth in each region may be very small. In many states for which data are available, perhaps only a thousand students complete the survey regarding sexual activity, and then perhaps a few hundred students respond regarding contraceptive use among sexually active students. did. Because this level of sample size per state would result in weak statistical power, we do not discuss the analyzes in this paper.
[5] A key part of this process is identifying relevant terms in searches and tweets. We looked at other terms in an attempt to identify an interest in sexual activity and adoption, but felt confident that they focused narrowly enough on the same concepts we wanted to explore. I couldn’t. For example, the 2010 Haiti earthquake led to the highest number of searches for “how to adopt” during this period, and tweets containing the terms “adoption” or “adoption” were often not about children. . Regarding sexual activity, we considered searches for terms such as “does sex hurt” and “first time sex” as potentially representing introspective thoughts about sex that we wanted to test. No association was found between media exposure and these search terms.
[6] teen mom 3 It was not yet aired during the sample period.