'16 & Pregnant' Stops Teen Births

Win one for the millennials. The much-derided MTV show 16 and Pregnant turns out to be providing a major public service—according to a new report it scares teens and in 2010 prevented 20,000 births to teenage mothers. The study, by the National Bureau of Economic Research, says the popular show reduced the teenage birthrate by almost six percent. The show follows a teen through the pregnancy, birth, and first weeks of parenthood, while its spinoff Teen Mom follows up with those mothers and children years later.