More similar than different: Tattooed adults are only slightly more impulsive and willing to take risks than Non-tattooed adults

Viren Swami*, Ulrich S. Tran, Tim Kuhlmann, Stefan Stieger, Helen Gaughan, Martin Voracek

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal article (peer-reviewed)Journal article

27 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Emerging evidence suggests that there are few differences in the personality profiles of tattooed and non-tattooed adults. To add to this literature, we compared tattooed and non-tattooed adults in terms of their willingness to take risks in multiple domains, as well as their impulsivity and boredom proneness. Adults from central Europe (. N=. 1006) completed measures of the afore-mentioned concepts and reported the number of tattoos they had. In total, 19.1% of respondents had at least one tattoo, with no significant differences as a function of sex, nationality, education, or marital status. We also found that tattooed adults had higher motor impulsivity and were more willing to take risks in recreational and health and safety domains. However, effect sizes of these differences were negligible to small. Among tattooed adults, there were no significant associations between the number of tattoos possessed and any of the measured variables. These results suggest that tattooed and non-tattooed adults nowadays are more similar than different.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)40-44
Number of pages5
JournalPersonality and Individual Differences
Volume88
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01 Jan 2016
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Body art
  • Boredom proneness
  • Impulsivity
  • Risk-taking
  • Tattoos

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Psychology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'More similar than different: Tattooed adults are only slightly more impulsive and willing to take risks than Non-tattooed adults'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this