Medical expert of the article
New publications
People with tattoos and piercings are more prone to alcoholism
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Specialists in psychology have revealed that people with tattoos and rings in the ear are more prone to alcoholism.
A group of French psychologists from the Institute of South Brittany decided to check whether there is any relationship between a tattoo, a piercing and a predisposition to drinking. To achieve the desired result for several Saturday evenings, researchers came to bars and nightclubs and asked questions from people who came from there, whether they have tattoos or piercings. The level of alcohol in the blood of the experimental subjects was measured with an alcohol-respiratory tube. In the work participated above 1,700 representatives of the stronger sex and 1,200 young ladies.
It turns out that the owners of tattoos and piercings are more likely to lean on alcohol. The researchers intend to publish their own results in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
However, the work is notable not so much the results obtained, as a considerable number of clarifications. Other researchers show in this connection that tattoos and piercings are famous mainly among a certain age category, from 13 to 18 years and from 18 to 25 years. This age is said to be "risky" (a teenager is drawn to adventure), and it would be much better to tattoo, and love to alcohol hangouts to associate with an age-old putsch. Earlier studies have demonstrated the predisposition of tattoo owners and piercings to "non-normative behavior", and the results only give it more specifics. In fact, it would be surprising to assume a hidden mystical relationship between tattooing and alcoholism. It's unlikely that events will develop in such a way that an ordinary person suddenly decides to get himself a piercing, and then starts to row around bars and nightclubs.
If you look from a different angle, it should be remembered that adolescent aspiration to stand out is not a single excuse for tattooing; Some, for example, make piercings from religious judgments. In the end, we must distinguish, let's say, the intensity of addiction tattoos: in 2009, scientists from the US thought about a similar problem and checked that those who have only one tattoo, do not differ from ordinary people. Serious difficulties with behavior begin with the buildup of piercings and tattoos.
Well, in the end, it is worth mentioning that in the eyes of ordinary people a person with a piercing or with a tattoo as before does not cause trust. Undeniably, superstition is not completely empty: the data of specialists in psychology confirm the research of parents, medical workers and teachers, that piercing and tattooing usually declare love for alcoholic cocktails, and maybe to what is stronger. In other words, doctors and psychologists, having seen the ring in their ear, now have every right to start a conversation about the dangers of alcoholism. How then to be with women who value piercing as a kind of accessory, like a stylish bracelet? Hardly do they think about any other adventures, besides the amorous