Body modification: A social psychological perspective of tattoos

This research investigated psychosocial factors influencing people's intention to modify their physical appearance via the acquisition of a tattoo. The specific aim of this research was to examine the influence of social role expectations on the intentions of tattooed and non-tattooed males and females to obtain a/another tattoo. The scope of this research entailed (1) an examination of contemporary attitudes toward tattoos and the development of a measurement inventory to assess peoples attitudes toward tattoos, and (2) the investigation of the strength and direction of path coefficients linking the exogenous and endogenous variables in a structural path model in order to determine which variables (if any) play a significant role in the intention to engage in the body modification practice of acquiring a tattoo. Specifically, this research investigated the direct and indirect influences of gender roles, neuroticism, appearance self-concept, internalisation of sociocultural appearance ideals, self-objectification, and body modification attitudes, on the behavioural intentions of individuals with and without tattoos. While some psychological research focusing on tattooing has been conducted, most has come from a clinical rather than social perspective and does not provide insight into the psychosocial aspects of this ever increasing practice. As such, a psychosocial structural path model was developed, based on Eagly's (1987) social role theory and Fredrickson and Roberts's (1997) objectification theory, to represent the decision-making process of the intention to engage in modifying the body's appearance via the acquisition of a/another tattoo. This was achieved in a two-study process.

Study 1 involved the development of the Body Modification Inventory-Tattoos (BMI-T) designed to measure male and female tattooed and non-tattooed individuals' attitudes toward tattoos. Initially, 45 representatives of the general community were invited to participate in one of two focus groups (i.e., one group of tattooees and one group of non-tattooees). Participants in each focus group were asked to consider their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours in relation to tattoos. Following content analysis of the original responses, 18 statements were written to emulate the meaning-content of the themes detected. A total of 195 respondents (29 tattooed males; 55 tattooed females; 54 non-tattooed males; 56 non-tattooed females) completed a self-report questionnaire assessing attitudes toward tattoos, body image attitudes, sociocultural appearance ideals, and body esteem. An exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor solution demonstrating good convergent and discriminant validity. A confirmatory factor analysis (N = 212; 44 tattooed males, 52 non-tattooed males, 56 tattooed females, 60 non-tattooed females) indicated the model demonstrated a good degree of fit, thus confirming the factor structure of the BMI-T.

Study 2 examined the posited structural path model, via structural equation modeling, in order to determine the direct and/or indirect influence (if any) of social role expectations (masculine or feminine) on the intention to modify one's appearance. Six hundred and forty-eight respondents (153 tattooed males, 150 non-tattooed males, 158 tattooed females, 187 non-tattooed females) from the general population completed a self-report questionnaire assessing attitudes toward tattoos, behavioural intentions, self-objectification, gender-typing, sociocultural attitudes toward appearance, and neuroticism. Results of this study indicated that social role expectations, as measured by adherence to gender roles, had an indirect influence on the intentions of tattooed and non-tattooed males and females to obtain a/another tattoo. The findings, however, indicated that the path of the decision-making process differed across the four groups. Further, self-objectification was found to have a significant influence on the intentions of non-tattooed males only. The implications for the study's findings with regard to male and female tattooees and non-tattooees are discussed.