Social Learning

The theory of social learning has helped me better understand the ways in which the TV show "16 and Pregnant" leads teenagers to believe that being pregnant at a young age isn't a horrible thing.

Social Learning Theory states that people who view something in the media will imitate the actions that they see through a process known as observational learning. Increasingly, people are concerned with the violence, sex, and drugs that are being put out in the media as though it was nothing at all. In a lot of the media, the bad guys aren't punished and they get away with their crimes. And because of this, people are becoming concerned that younger viewers will begin to imitate those things and follow the same paths that they see on TV or in movies. But on the same note, in some media, the bad guy is caught and punished, which can lead viewers to believe that all crimes are found out about and therefore people will not commit crimes.
In the show "16 and Pregnant", teen pregnancy seems to be glamorized. Yes, the girls do go through some hardships, but in the end, they have their baby and are comforted by the people around them and everything seems to be just fine. Younger viewers can see this and think that if they have sex early in their lives and get pregnant, that they will be just fine as well.
The show does show some problems that teen moms can encounter, but overall, it shows all of the good things about having a baby. And because of this, the show 'Teen Mom" was created which also glamorizes teen pregnancy, and the movie Juno(a comedy) was made about a pregnant teen. This has caused teen pregnancy to not be frowned upon in our society much like it was a couple of decades ago.
Hopefully, parents will inform their children to wait or to be safe, because teen pregnancy is not all that it is lived up to be as shown in the media.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLiXS02Mj7U