Summary

See post title. Full article here - http://web.archive.org/web/20160826162252/http://abcnews.go.com/Health/baby-simulator-programs-make-teen-girls-pregnant-study/story?id=41642211

Body

A study of Australian teens find that participants are more likely to become pregnant (and keep the child) after taking a course designed to simulate real-life experiences of infant feeding, diaper changing, and overnight sleep interruptions. Despite those experiences that many would consider negative and unwanted, participants were not deterred from getting pregnant. The opposite result was found.

...girls enrolled in schools that employed infant dolls and education sessions that simulate what having a baby might be like, were about 36 percent more likely to have a pregnancy -- at least one birth or abortion by age 20 -- compared to those in schools that only employed the standard school curriculum.

Because a deeply-rooted biological drive has been kickstarted and there is no switch to disarm it.

The infant dolls, central to these baby simulator programs, are designed to look and behave like real babies. They can cry and burp and require diapering, feeding and care throughout the day and night. A set of lessons -- including education sessions, workbooks and a video documentary of teenage mothers talking about their own lives -- supplement the experience by exploring "the physical, emotional, social, and financial consequences of becoming pregnant and dealing with parenthood.

Financial consequences be damned, these girls will fulfill their biological goals.

A lot of the teenagers become attached to their fake babies. If they participated in the infant simulator program, teen girls were not only more likely to be pregnant, but also more likely to keep their pregnancies.

No fucking shit. Give me an extended period of time with a Ferarri and I'll become attached to it also. Except when the logic function activates in my brain telling me that it's a $250,000 anchor, I'll walk away.

... the findings held true even after they took into account various factors, including socioeconomic status, education, family type, prior sexual experience, psychological distress, prior responsibility for caring for a baby and toxic habits.

Because none of those factors will override the biological drive to give birth and raise a child. Furthermore, some teens didn't even believe that the experience was accurate, and hamstered their way into thinking that the course was exaggerated just to be a pregnancy deterrent.

The teen who found it difficult to care for the simulator tended to believe it would be much easier to look after their own baby, the study said.

If I fail a flight simulator, I'm not going to run out and try a real plane.

After an initial cost of $500 for a starter pack, each baby costs approximately $1,000, according to the company. "It is a high cost to the schools and the education system," Brinkman said. "Even worse, they may be doing harm. Seems like a very silly waste of public funding."

How much more public funding will be needed to support the children of financially unstable teenage mothers?

Lessons Learned

  • The biological drive to birth a child is so strong, it is unable to be overridden by simulated negative experiences.
  • Public school systems waste taxpayer money because they are unaware of these biological needs.