“We found consistent associations with abuse and neglect and the presence of body modification. Not only were tattoos and piercings more common among those who reported any type of childhood adversity, but their prevalence rates also increased with increasing severity.” of all types of abuse and neglect”, detail the authors of the article and disseminated by D.W..
Tattoos and piercings are a means of coping with previous adversity and being an expression of autonomy
previous investigations about people with tattoos and piercings have been statistically linked to lower self-esteem and a greater reliance on exposing their uniqueness. With all this, until now there is no research on body modification and child abuse, a topic that this text intends to cover.
Study focused on Germany
For the researchers on this controversial topic, who are in charge of the psychologist Mareike Ernst, from the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy of the Mainz University Medical Center (Mainz), recruited more than 1,000 participants residing in Germany, in a range of age of 14 and 44 years. Participants completed a questionnaire to obtain a sociodemographic profile, including whether they had tattoos or piercings, in addition to declaring whether they had faced any type of abuse or neglect in childhood, as well as the impact that this abuse or neglect had.
For 40% of the participants reported at least one tattoo or piercing; among whom, only 35% had no history of child abuse or neglect. But of the 25% of the total of the participants, who declared having grown up with significant abuse or neglect, it reaches 48% who had a tattoo or a piercing or both. The data collected from the researchers indicates that the more serious the abuse or neglect they faced, the more tattoos or piercings the participants had.
Restrictions of the new study
Being a cross-sectional study based exclusively on a German population sample, a definitive or unique causal relationship could not be established. In addition to this, the study design was based on self-declaration, which makes it difficult to reach definitive conclusions. However, the authors detail that some conclusions can be drawn from this.
“The present study adds to previous research by confirming similar positive associations of tattoos and piercings with childhood abuse and neglect within a representative population sample. These relationships related not only to physical and sexual abuse, but also to early experiences of abandonment and emotional forms of trauma. They continued to be observed in statistical models that controlled for the effects of potential sociodemographic confounders, such as gender and age.”
They could spark therapeutic conversations about the meaning of past experiences and about current issues
“Therefore, for a considerable number of individuals who acquire body modifications, these could represent a means of coping with previous adversities and be an expression of autonomy. These findings open new avenues for support offerings (involving tattoo and piercer artists) and filtering (for example, in primary care). Tattoos and piercings could also fuel therapeutic conversations about the meaning of past experiences and about issues that are important today.”