4.2 /10 1 Votes
5.5/10 TV Created by Lauren Dolgen Original language(s) English No. of episodes 61 (list of episodes) | 3/10 IMDb Country of origin United States No. of seasons 5 First episode date 11 June 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cast Drew Pinsky, Danielle Cunningham, Jennifer Del Rio, Jordan Cashmyer, Ebony Jackson Profiles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
16 and Pregnant was an American reality television series that aired from June 11, 2009 to July 1, 2014, on MTV. 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 1⁄2 – 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 three spin-off series: Teen Mom, Teen Mom 2 and Teen Mom 3. Each series follows the lives of four girls from their respective season of 16 and Pregnant as they navigate their first years of motherhood.
Contents
The fifth season premiered on April 14, 2014. The show was renewed for a sixth season on January 12, 2015.
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Reception and impact
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."
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.
While there is still debate on whether or not the show "glamorizes teen pregnancy," the intended goal of the show was to bring attention to what teen pregnancy is really like and promote the practice of safe sex. A study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests 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. It is still unknown whether this is due to the premiere of 16 and Pregnant or the recent economic decline. Recent research suggests that the conclusions of the original study were completely unwarranted and that 16 and Pregnant was unlikely to have had a dramatic effect on birth rates.
In 2016, a 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".