AIBU to wonder if Teen Mom UK reflects class demographics?

[Fieldday26]

I’ve recently started watching the UK Teen Mom series (I’m only on series 2, so this may change as I get further through it!) and I’ve noticed pretty much all of the girls/families featured seem to be from fairly working class/lower socioeconomic backgrounds. I’m absolutely not saying that as a criticism of them individually, some of them are doing amazing (finishing their A-levels, buying a house etc) and obviously I know the show is only a small selection of teen mums.

It just made me wonder why that seems to be the case. Do you think the producers specifically targets / chooses girls from those backgrounds because it makes for the type of TV they want to make? That girls from more middle-class backgrounds are less likely to agree to be filmed because they realise that Teen Mom potentially doesn’t portray teenage motherhood in a particularly positive light? Or is it actually fairly representative of the demographics of teenage mothers in the UK, and we’re simply seeing what the reality is? Or most likely a combination of all three?

I’m genuinely curious rather than trying to make a point about the girls on the programme. I also appreciate that “class” is a pretty broad and subjective thing, and I’m basing this entirely on what we see on the show rather than knowing anything about their actual circumstances.

Also does it change in the later series?

there is a strong reverse correlation between economic prospects and teen motherhood. Note I did not say pregnancy.

Interesting point re motherhood and pregnancy.

it’s fairly obvious isn’t it that having a baby as a teenager is more coming amongst the working class??

Not only the UK. It's true all around the World that more years in education = better employment prospects = having children later.

The teen mom US was also working class girls/families they just didn't have the clear distinction that they have here, but girls having babies for all sorts of reasons were prevelant in both versions, just the American version looked a bit "glossier"

I think it’s all of those things. The majority will be from lower socioeconomic classes.

I am from a working class background myself. Pregnant at 20, three by 26. My sisters were all pregnant at 20, my mum was pregnant at 20. Not teenagers, but still young enough. For us, it really was, and is, a non issue.

I am now 38. Degree educated, albeit not the traditional route. Mum and sisters also have degrees, but again, not done at the traditional age and all vocational.
Still married to the same working class man, very happily. Our children are now 18, 16 and 13.

I cannot see my daughter having a baby at 20 though.

Surely it's obvious that teenagers from lower socio economic backgrounds are more likely to be young mums??

Are you talking about Amber , Chloe , Mia etc
As there a few different groups of girls ?( Teen mom is my guilty pleasure 😷
I think most of them have certsinly use the air time for their own advantage

And went on far to long the orginal babies are now coming up to 18 and they only stopped filming them last year .

Yes it’s obvious it’s more likely, but I’m surprised they didn’t add in a middle class family to show the differences (a bit rich house, poor house style). I’m wondering whether they didn’t cast / go looking for that or whether the middle class girls thought it wasn’t a good idea to star on the show.

I worked with teen parents and yes, the majority are from more vulnerable families. That’s not to say they aren’t fantastic parents because the majority managed their babies alongside challenges more financially stable people wouldn’t have a clue about.
We did have do more middle class parents, who generally had more reliable family support and if I’m honest many had abortions (much higher proportion than the Low income mums) so it didn’t interfere with uni etc
I was a young mum myself and ticked all of the vulnerable boxes, but I do really well now and my adult kids are incredible (and have no intention of having kids young)
However you often see a cycle in these families with each mum getting pregnant young, needing social housing and benefits and their children going on to do the same. I’ve witnessed that a lot over the years

It’s Chloe, Whitney, Angel, Isha etc in series 1, Isha isn’t in series 2 but a couple of new girls have joined.

Yes i think I last watched when "the babies" started school but I did see that they were 18 now ! The mums all had their own challenges like the UK
I used to watch it with my Dd she is the same age as the OG mums, so we were invested for a few years.

Just had a google the original mom's are a couple of years older.

I’m sure I’ve read somewhere that middle class teenagers who get pregnant are more likely to have an abortion than working class teenagers, but can’t recall if it gave any explanation of the differences. It could be that that middle class teens want to go onto further education as planned rather than have a baby, peer pressure (having a baby would be viewed more negatively than having an abortion), or because middle class parents are less likely to be supportive (emotionally or financially).

Even among the supposedly adult and rational posters on MN, it's noticeable that working class posters are usually much more inclined to keep (or suggest keeping) a pregnancy which would be financially ruinous and create huge practical issues. Presumably the difference is even starker with teenagers.

Interesting point and it makes a lot of sense.

It did exactly the opposite of whst it was trying to do
The first few seasons were realistic and showed how hard it was being a teenmom
But then they became reality tv stars
And MTV wwre throwing money at them.

I have never watched teen mom UK but when I was at school four of the girls in my class were pregnant when we left after GCSEs and none of them were middle class.

Middle class parents are far more likely to persuade/coerce their pregnant teen into have an abortion than working class parents.

Interesting thoughts around coercion.

This is a good point.

Yeah i could go on for pages about it !

I thought it was common knowledge that working class girls are more likely to become teen mums than middle class ones.

Middle class ones do get pregnant but they are more likely to have abortions.

I have watched an episode or two of the first series, but found some of it a bit staged, so stopped watching.

However... yes, teen mums are more frequently found amongst those from poorer backgrounds. All of the girls who had babies at school, or shortly after, were from the less affluent areas. Some did go on to gain qualifications and jobs later, but I don't know what happened to all of them.

I’m 38 and a lot of my friends and peer group who were working class had babies between aged 14 and 21. Top of my head, here’s what we are all up to now in our late 30s

2 = unemployed

1 = in prison with children removed. Unfortunately got addicted to drugs, went into prostitution and had children removed

1 - social worker, me!

2 - teaching assistant

2 - nurses

1 - business partner in financial services

1 - nursery nurse

1 - receptionist

that’s all I can think of for now.