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ON EARLY CHILDHOOD IN TURKEY 

 

Prof. Dr. Baxtiyar ALIYEV 

Faculty of Social Sciences and Psychology, Baku State University, Baku, Azerbaijan 

[e-mail] 

 

Lecturer Abdullah TÜRKMEN 

Faculty of Education Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, Rize, Turkey 

[e-mail] 

 

ABSTRACT 

Media can influence children and adolescents perceptions of their body by projecting images that suggest the ideal 

body is extremely thin, an ideal that most children and adolescents cannot normally achieve. This can lead to internalized 

negative feelings, which can begin the downward spiral toward disordered eating (Andrist, 2003).Body image disturbance 

may also be related to lowered self-esteem and impaired psychosocial functioning, including social anxiety and the onset of 

adolescent children (Smolak & Levine, 2001).Sociocultural factors, such as parents, peers, and the media in particular, have 

a strong influence on the development of body image. Boys and girls as young as five express anxiety over body image and 

a desire to be thin (Andrist, 2003).The transition from childhood to early adolescence is a high risk period for the 

development of body dissatisfaction because of the physical changes that occur with puberty (Harrison, 2000;Smolak & 

Levine, 2001).  The development of body image in early childhood identity and self-concept emerge and evolve during the 

preschool years. One of the first way children identify themselves involves their physical appearance. Part of the 

development of how children distinguish themselves from others is based upon their physical appearance.We believe that in 

order for children to have a healthy self-concept, they must develop positive attitudes towards themselves, beginning with a 

positive body image, and overall a positive attitude about their physical appearance.The study aimed to explore the impact 

of television on perceptions of body image on early childood in Rize. Focus group methodology was employed in order to 

access participants’ perceptions of two television program and explore whether early childhood are able to differentiate 

between themes and messages presented within television programming and the extent to which they are able to select, 

process, and evaluate the information.The participants in this study offered insight and information regarding their level of 

awareness with regard to selected television themes and messages. The participants demonstrated an understanding of the 

main themes (educational,  comedy vs.) presented within the television shows. Older participants (age  6) exhibited some 

awareness of the rehearsed fantasy of television whereas the younger participants (age 4) believed that most things 

portrayed on television were real. Overall, the participants described characters with larger body shapes as “different” yet 

not necessarily negative. Although these young boys demonstrated an awareness of extreme body types, they did not appear 

to possess an association between body size and negative body image, but expressed the insignificance of body size and 

attractiveness in relation to popularity.Thus, the framework of unrealistic body shape expectations may unknowingly be set 

in childhood, but it is not until later in adolescence (which includes physical growth, onset of puberty, and increased 

importance of peer relationships and peer pressure), that the incentives for a change in behavior becomes great enough and 

the full impact of negative body image occurs. We believe that in order for children to have a healthy self-concept, they 

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