Latina Teens’ Identification with and Social Comparison to Mothers on Teen Mom

Nicky Lewis, Anne E. Norris, Nicole Martins

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

A survey was conducted with low income Latina teens (M = 13.31 years of age) to examine the ways in which exposure, identification with, and social comparison to teen mothers featured on the MTV program Teen Mom influenced attitudes toward teen pregnancy. Analyses revealed that those who identified with and looked up to the teen mothers on Teen Mom were less likely to think getting pregnant would be embarrassing, a terrible event, or prevent them from achieving their dreams. The identification and upward social comparison processes observed here extend those observed in previous research across ethnic, income, and cultural differences. Implications regarding the potentially negative effects of portrayals of teen motherhood on Teen Mom are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)206-229
Number of pages24
JournalMass Communication and Society
Volume23
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 3 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 Mass Communication & Society Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Communication

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