Reality television programs concerning teenage pregnancy are becoming a major influence in lives of today of adolescents. The major networks encourage young teens to view programs such as MTV’s Teen Mom, Teen Mom 2 and 16 & Pregnant so they will become addicted to watching the program and feel as if though they are a part of the characters reality life. Pursuant to research conducted by “Teen Health and the Media” the average American teen spends about 20 hours a week watching television reality shows, as a result teens to form their opinions and impersonate the characters on the shows. Although ratings results show that more girls watch the show than boys, the impact of the show is similar. The males reacted the same way the females did,
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The networks create weekly drama and suspense between the characters so viewers will turn on their TV’s week after week. Some of the shows do not focus on the actual pregnancy, they concentrate more on the relationship between the girl and baby’s father or they fixate on other problems in their social lives, such as tattoos and body piercings. (Wilson) The characters who are portrayed as “Hollywood” stars earn a more than $60,000 per episode plus other endorsements, but in actuality the average teenage mom who does not complete high school, may earn $6,500 for her first 15 years of parenthood.
Teen pregnancy shows does not recognize the welfare system which is the category most teen pregnancy moms fall into. Health care is a very important factor during this period of time. Most teenagers are either on their parents insurance policies or have become a member of the welfare system which gives them and their child free medical care. Not only does welfare provide prenatal care, it provide, cell phones, vision cards and other free
The networks create weekly drama and suspense between the characters so viewers will turn on their TV’s week after week. Some of the shows do not focus on the actual pregnancy, they concentrate more on the relationship between the girl and baby’s father or they fixate on other problems in their social lives, such as tattoos and body piercings. (Wilson) The characters who are portrayed as “Hollywood” stars earn a more than $60,000 per episode plus other endorsements, but in actuality the average teenage mom who does not complete high school, may earn $6,500 for her first 15 years of parenthood.
Teen pregnancy shows does not recognize the welfare system which is the category most teen pregnancy moms fall into. Health care is a very important factor during this period of time. Most teenagers are either on their parents insurance policies or have become a member of the welfare system which gives them and their child free medical care. Not only does welfare provide prenatal care, it provide, cell phones, vision cards and other free