WHEN NANNY-STATE INTERVENTIONS FAIL: Digital baby dolls encouraged teen pregnancy.

Digital baby dolls that wake up crying in the middle of the night and need feeding, rocking and nappy changes are supposed to deter teenagers from falling pregnant.

But in an ironic twist, researchers have found they have the opposite effect.

The findings of a 10-year program and study involving more than 1250 girls and costing more than $1.5 million has found the dolls are actually more likely to encourage motherhood.

The study’s author, Sally Brinkman, from the Telethon Kids Institute, said the program to give babies mimicking the behaviours of a six-week-old to more than 1250 girls aged 14 and 15 had turned popular thinking on its head by proving they encouraged teenagers to fall pregnant.

“The most alarming figure is girls are 1.36 times more likely to have pregnancies if they were exposed to the babies,” Dr Brinkman said.

Oops. I thought the behavioral science was settled.