Pictorial Representation of Adults as Observed in Children's Literature

Abstract

The 37 Caldecott Medal award-winning children's books and 129 runnerup books were subjected to a content analysis in order to evaluate the portrayal of adults in children's literature, both fictional and nonfictional. Of the total 166 books analyzed, 43 were excluded from the data because they contained no adult portrayals. For the 123 books subjected to final content analysis, and the 751 characters contained in these books, the data revealed statistically significant differences on four variables: (1) more male than female adults were represented; (2) more healthy than physically handicapped adults were portrayed; (3) more positive than negative or neutral illustrations of adults occurred; (4) adults were represented more in fictional than in nonfictional children's books. Results were interpreted as demonstrating that children's literature portrays neither adult figures nor adult life in a realistic manner.

Stereotypes and Perceptions of the Elderly by the Youth in Nigeria: Implications for Social Policy

“…Butler used the term ageism to refer to all these various forms of age discrimination. Peterson and Eden (1977) and Storck and Cutler (1977) argued that literature can be a very important source of misinformation for the young about the elderly. With particular reference to children and youths, studies carried out in different parts of the world show that children and adolescents have largely negative images and perceptions of age and aging (Giles, Coupland, Coupland, Williams, & Nassbaum, 1992;Haught, Walls, Laney, Leavell, & Stuzen, 1999;Hawkins, 1996;Lorreto, Duncan, & White, 2000).…”