1. Tattoos: A Marker of Deviance In An Adolescent Population
Tyler York
Senior Thesis Capstone | Spring 2014 | Adviser: Dr. Cody Warner
Research Question
Are tattoos a marker of crime and
deviance? Are there any specific behaviors
(drug use, violent, or nonviolent) that are
associated with tattoo acquisition? If an
association exists, is it spurious?
Background
Prior research indicates that having a tattoo
is correlated with criminal or deviant
behavior. However, the research also finds
that the association will disappear when
accounting for personality traits (e.g.,
openness to experience and subclinical
psychopathy) and socioeconomic status.
The only associations not explained by
these controls are to those individuals with
many tattoos (4+), or in explaining drug
use/abuse.
Data and Methods
I used data from the National Longitudinal
Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health)
that interviewed participants between the 7th
and 12th grades. I then used tabulation and
correlation commands in Stata to determine
if any association exists between tattoo
acquisition and drug use, violent crime, and
nonviolent crime. I further used regression
commands to control for personality and
parental income.
Results
I did find a moderate association between tattooed
individuals and criminal behavior: both violent and
nonviolent. There was an even stronger association
with drug use. Figure 1 and Figure 2 both indicate
these association, with Figure 2 showing an exact
opposite trend between tattooed and non-tattooed
individuals with the variety of drugs they have tried.
These results were not surprising, as they were also
observed in the prior research. When I attempted to
control for personality traits and parental income
though, my results did differ. These controls had little
to no effect on the association with violent and
nonviolent crime. They accounted for, at most, 25%
of the variance. The controls also had little effect on
the association with drug use. However, with no
control, my results indicate that a tattooed individual
is 13x more likely to use drugs. When controlling for
parental income, that number jumps to 20x more
likely. This indicates that poor socioeconomic status
and tattoo acquisition have a compounding effect on
the likelihood of drug use.
Discussion
My results show that there is a statistically
significant correlation between having a
tattoo and criminal or deviant behaviors.
Furthermore, controlling for personality and
parental income had little effect on this
association. This may be explained by a
limitation of my study though. The majority
of respondents in the data were under the
age of 18, which is generally the legal age
to get a tattoo without parental consent.
This questions the validity of some of those
respondents that claimed to have a tattoo.
On the other hand, using subcultural
identity theory may explain why the
association remains strong after control.
Those respondents that really do have
tattoos may be more prone toward those
kinds of behaviors regardless. Considering
the strength of the association though, this
study merits further research into how
tattoos may affect our younger population.
0
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40
No drugs One Drug Two Drugs Three
Drugs
Four Drugs
%ofRespondents
Variety of Drugs Tried
Figure 2
Variety of Drugs Tried by Tattoo Acquisition
No Tattoo Tattoo
0
10
20
30
40
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70
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100
Violent Crime Non-Violent
Crime
Drug Use
%ofRespondents
ReportingBehavior
Type of Behavior
Figure 1
Types of Behavior by Tattoo Acquisition
No Tattoo Tattoo