Does having tattoo make you a deviant? Your mom may think so, and she's right. Well, partially anyhow. A new study of tattooed and/or pierced college students reveal the correlation between having (lots of) body art and deviant behaviors:
Aside from their use of the body as a canvas, the students were asked about various aspects of their behavior, including drug and alcohol use, sexual activity and whether they cheat on tests.
The findings revealed "sharp differences in the levels of deviant behavior among those with just one tattoo vs. those with four or more, and among those with just one to three piercings vs. those with seven or more," reports sociologist Jerome Koch, the paper's lead author. "The level of deviance reported by respondents with low levels of body art is much closer to those with none than to those with multiple tattoos and piercings, or intimate piercings."
"Results indicate that respondents with four or more tattoos, seven or more body piercings, or piercings located in their nipples or genitals, were substantially and significantly more likely to report regular marijuana use, occasional use of other drugs, and a history of being arrested for a crime," the paper continues. "Less pronounced, but still significant in many cases, was an increased propensity for those with higher incidence of body art to cheat on college work, binge drink and report having had multiple sex partners over the course of their lifetime."
http://www.miller-mccune.com/news/ink-on-skin-doesn-t-necessarily-indicate-sin-1712 - Thanks Julia!
Perhaps you would, but that says more about you than it does about other people. For instance any rational person would look for the physiological signs of someone who is an alcoholic or "pot-head" and not at what these people choose to wear on their sleeves. I wonder which one of us is more likely to be correct.