Despite tattoos becoming more mainstream — they still can’t seem to shake their stereotypical image, a study suggests.
Researchers at Anglia Ruskin university found a link that suggests people with tattoos are more angrier than those who don't.
Additionally, they suggest the more tattoos you have, the angrier you are.
The study, to be published in the journal Body Image, surveyed 378 adults between 20 and 59-years-old. Of those surveyed, 25.7 per cent had at least one tattoo. Those with tattoos had an average number of 2.5 each.
According to the research, “tattooed individuals reported significantly higher levels of verbal aggression, anger, and reactive rebelliousness compared with non-tattooed adults.”
The survey also looked into possible links between tattooed and non-tattooed people when it came to educational qualifications but found no significant differences.
Professor Viren Swami, who led the research said: “One explanation [of the results] is that people who have higher reactive rebelliousness may respond to disappointing and frustrating events by getting tattooed.”
“We also found that tattooed adults had higher aggression scores on two of the four dimensions of aggression that we measured, namely verbal aggression and anger.”
“Although tattoos have now become commonplace in modern British society, our findings may have implications for understanding the reported associations between tattooing and risky behaviour among adults.”
In 2012, it was estimated that 1.5 million British people get a tattoo every year.
