Ja Mist. Doch nicht alles schlecht. MTVs „16 and pregnant“ wirkt sich laut einer neuen Studie von Melissa Kearney und Phillip Levine folgendermaßen auf die jugendlichen Zuschauer aus:

We investigate whether the show influenced teens’ interest in contraceptive use or abortion, and whether it ultimately altered teen childbearing outcomes. We use data from Google Trends and Twitter to document changes in searches and tweets resulting from the show, Nielsen ratings data to capture geographic variation in viewership, and Vital Statistics birth data to measure changes in teen birth rates. We find that 16 and Pregnant led to more searches and tweets regarding birth control and abortion, and ultimately led to a 5.7 percent reduction in teen births in the 18 months  following its introduction. This accounts for around one-third of the overall decline in teen births  in the United States during that period.

 

*Am Ende, möchte ich meinen, behält Chris Blattman aber (nicht nur im Bezug auf die USA) Recht:

The sad part: think of all the terrible damage the other 1,764 reality shows are wreaking on American social fabric.