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Journals / Geriatrik Bilimler Dergisi / 2025 / Cilt: 8 Sayı: 3

Ageism in Children's Literature: Portraying Older People in Children’s Books

Çocuk Edebiyatında Yaş Ayrımcılığı: Çocuk Kitaplarında Yaşlıların Tasviri

Zahide Yuvakgil(MUĞLA SITKI KOÇMAN ÜNİVERSİTESİ, MUĞLA SAĞLIK HİZMETLERİ MESLEK YÜKSEKOKULU)0000-0003-1795-2705
Pages
251–259
Publication Date
2025-12-31
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

This review evaluates how often older characters are portrayed and how they are portrayed in terms of gender, role, physical and personal characteristics in children’s books.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:Ageing is a natural and unavoidable process that everyone can experience if they have lived long enough.
📊
Key Findings & Data:However, stereotypes, prejudices and ageism towards ageing and older people can exist in society.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:This review evaluates how often older characters are portrayed and how they are portrayed in terms of gender, role, physical and personal characteristics in children’s books.
🔬Design:Review & Systematic Survey
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Yaş Ayrımcılığı · Yaşlanma · Çocuk Edebiyatı

Abstract

Ageing is a natural and unavoidable process that everyone can experience if they have lived long enough. However, stereotypes, prejudices and ageism towards ageing and older people can exist in society. Ageism can be experienced by people of all ages or in early childhood. Children are openly or implicitly exposed to age stereotypes through family, social environment, language, humour, television, cartoons and children’s literature, and they internalise the age stereotypes in their culture throughout their lives. Children’s literature is a suitable medium for reflecting society and learning about ageing. Therefore, how often and how older people are portrayed in children's books has an impact on the formation of ageism in children. This review evaluates how often older characters are portrayed and how they are portrayed in terms of gender, role, physical and personal characteristics in children’s books.

Özet

Yaşlanmak, yeterince ömür süresine sahip herkesin deneyimleyebileceği doğal ve kaçınılmaz bir süreçtir. Ancak toplum içerisinde yaşlanmaya ve yaşlılara karşı stereotipler, önyargılar ve ayrımcı davranışlar var olabilmektedir. Yaşlılara yönelik ayrımcılık her yaş grubundan bireylerde olabileceği gibi erken çocukluk döneminde de görülmektedir. Çocuklar, aile, sosyal çevre, dil, mizah, televizyon, çizgi film ve çocuk edebiyatı aracılığıyla yaş stereotiplerine açık veya örtük bir biçimde maruz kalırlar ve içinde yaşadıkları kültürdeki yaş stereotiplerini yaşamları boyunca içselleştirirler. Çocuk edebiyatı, toplumu yansıtması ve çocukların yaşlanmayı öğrenebilmeleri açısından uygun bir araçtır. Dolayısıyla çocuk kitaplarında yaşlıların ne kadar sıklıkla ve nasıl tasvir edildiği çocuklarda yaş ayrımcılığının oluşmasında etkilidir. Derleme niteliğindeki bu çalışmada yaşlı karakterlerin çocuk kitaplarında ne sıklıkla ve cinsiyet, rol, fiziksel ve kişisel özellikler bakımından nasıl tasvir edildiği değerlendirilmektedir.

🔖

Cite This Article

Yuvakgil, Z. (2025). Ageism in Children's Literature: Portraying Older People in Children’s Books. Geriatrik Bilimler Dergisi, Cilt: 8 Sayı: 3, 251–259. https://doi.org/10.47141/geriatrik.1598211

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