Teen Mom 2 Research Paper

Taylor Cordell
Nora Beerline
English 1111
3-11-2013
Glitz and Glamour? “Teen Mom 2” is a sequel to MTV’s “16 and Pregnant”. More than three million people watch the series every week. It is MTV’s highest-rated show targeting women starting at age twelve. “Teen Mom 2” features the lives of four teen mothers: Leah, Jenelle, Chelsea, and Kailyn. They are followed by cameras daily to show the gritty hardships they face. Unlike “16 and Pregnant”, it offers an unglamorous and sometimes uncomfortable look into their lives. “Teen Mom 2” under-scores what life can really be like when you have a child at a young age. The show educates teens about being a teenage parent, while still being entertaining. Leah struggles with having relationship problems
She signed over custody to her mother so she could “mature”. She is addicted to drugs and alcohol, moves from place to place, and gets violent with her mother in front of her child. Her segments have never been dedicated to her son. She is more interested in jail, boyfriends, and drugs. Chelsea is a single mom. She has support from family and many friends. She dropped out of high school once she had her daughter. She takes GED classes and plans on attending beauty school once finished with her GED. Kailyn is also a single mother. She attends college and struggles with living on her own. She does not have any family members to support her through her journey as a teen parent. She constantly argues with her son’s father about custody agreements and seems to spend most of her time in the courtroom. “Teen Mom 2” no doubt has an influence on many people. There are plenty of people who love watching this kind of emotional, soap opera, reality television. While the show attempts to highlight how difficult it is for these young women to juggle teen life with the responsibilities of being mothers it may be sending mixed messages to viewers. With the media making celebrities out of the teen moms, it has made the show detrimental to its core
Some viewers see these young women as if they are already on the path for an unsuccessful and depressing future. They feel the young mothers are turning their lives into a complete train wreck due to the “fame” the series has brought them. Viewers may also think that the young mothers are sending themselves into a downward spiral and devastating their families in the process. Naïve viewers may even see the show as an example of a really awesome way to live. This reality series may compel some individuals to behave in ways that will land them on reality shows. These messages could also be portrayed by other reality shows such as, “Jersey Shore” and the “Worlds Strictest Parents”. Although they have concerns of different topics they could be seen in multiple different ways. As is only natural, the show also highlights the deep love and affection mothers have for their children. While many of the teen moms do say the wish they had been older before having a child, they are very much in love with their children. They do not say, nor should they say, that they wish they had not had their babies. Though they are struggling to be mothers, they are also in the awe of the life-changing experience of having a child of one’s