Tattoos Can Harm Perception

JOURNAL OF AMERICAN COLLEGE HEALTH, VOL. 56, NO. 5

Tattoos Can Harm Perceptions: A Study and Suggestions
Annette Resenhoeft, BA; Julie Villa, RN; David Wiseman, PhD

Abstract. Objective: Health researchers have claimed that perceptions toward a person with a tattoo are more negative than are perceptions toward non-tattooed persons. However, support for this has been obtained almost completely by nonexperimental research. Participants: In 2 experiments with 158 community college student participants, the authors found that tattoos harmed perceptions. Methods: Students viewed a photograph of a female model with and without a visible tattoo, and rated her on 13 personal characteristics. Results: In Experiment 1, ratings of a model with a
The independent variable was the presence or absence of a tattoo on a woman (ie, the model in the photograph). The dependent variables were participant ratings of 13 interpersonal characteristics of the model (eg, fashionable). Participants indicated the level of their perceptions of the 13 characteristics by using a 5-point scale for each. Labels such as very unfashionable and very fashionable anchored the scale ratings. On the basis of the results of the experimental studies mentioned previously combined with those of other studies that were descriptive (ie, nonexperimental), we predicted that our 2 experiments would show that tattoos negatively affected perceptions. Our sample came from a population of students attending a New Jersey community college. All were volunteers from the school’s psychology and nursing classes. We randomly assigned each participant to either a tattoo (experimental group) or nontattoo (control group) condition. Our 158 participants provided written informed consent. The appropriate institutional review board approved the procedures of this study. EXPERIMENT 1 Methods Participants Eighty-five students at a New Jersey community college volunteered as participants (37% male, M age = 21.64 years, SD = 5.34). Thirty-two percent of participants reported having permanent tattoos. Materials We distributed a packet of materials to each participant. Packets contained a color photograph of a woman (used by Degelman and Price4), a rating scale for each of 13 personal characteristics with which to indicate perceptions of the model, a demographic survey, and a 24-item attitude scale (shortened from that used by Degelman and Price4). The attitude scale was unrelated to the goals of the present study; it simply provided a task prior to the viewing of the photograph to decrease the prospect of participants guessing the purpose of the study. Each packet contained a