An Analysis of Peer Bullying in the Heidi Cartoon Through Content Analysis
Peer Bullying in the Heidi Cartoon Series: A Content Analysis
Abstract
Early childhood is a critical period in which the foundations of personality development are formed, and exposure to bullying during this stage can lead to long-term social and psychological consequences. Bullying is defined as the repeated display of negative behaviors. Although the Heidi cartoon series appears innocent and educational, peer bullying behaviors can still be observed in character interactions. This study aims to identify elements of peer bullying in the Heidi series and analyze how these elements are represented. Content analysis, a qualitative research method, was used. The data consists of 23 randomly selected episodes from the 65-episode series available on the YouTube channel STUDIO100-TRT. Scenes were examined independently, and the data were evaluated using the Miles and Huberman approach. Findings indicate that peer bullying behaviors are repeatedly displayed among certain characters and are represented in ways that may act as behavioral models for young viewers.
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