Gutenberg Open Science: The association of childhood abuse and neglect with tattoos and piercings in the population : evidence from a representative community survey

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-8781

Full metadata record

DC Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Ernst, Mareike	-
dc.contributor.author	Borkenhagen, Ada	-
dc.contributor.author	Fegert, Jörg M.	-
dc.contributor.author	Brähler, Elmar	-
dc.contributor.author	Plener, Paul L.	-
dc.date.accessioned	2023-02-09T08:53:56Z	-
dc.date.available	2023-02-09T08:53:56Z	-
dc.date.issued	2022	-
dc.identifier.uri	https://openscience.ub.uni-mainz.de/handle/20.500.12030/8797	-
dc.description.abstract	Background Tattoos and piercings are becoming increasingly popular in many countries around the world. Individuals seeking such body modifications have reported diverse psychological motives. Besides purely superficial considerations, tattoos and piercings can also have a deep, personal meaning. For example, they can mark and support the emotional processing of significant life events, including formative experiences from early childhood. However, there is a lack of studies that examine the links of tattoos and piercings with experiences of childhood abuse and neglect in large, population-based samples. Methods We investigated the association of reports of childhood abuse and neglect with the acquisition of body modifications (tattoos and piercings) within a representative German community sample. Survey participants (N = 1060; ages 14–44 years) were questioned whether they had tattoos and piercings and filled out the 28-item Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form (CTQ-SF). Results Tattoos and piercings were more common among individuals who reported childhood abuse and neglect. The proportion of participants with tattoos and piercings increased as a function of the severity of all assessed types of abuse and neglect (emotional, physical, and sexual abuse; emotional and physical neglect). In logistic regression analyses which included the covariates age, gender, education, and income, the sum of significant kinds of childhood abuse and neglect was positively related to having tattoos and/or piercings (OR = 1.37 [95% CI 1.19–1.58]). Conclusions The results corroborate previous research indicating that body modifications could have special significance for individuals who have survived adversity, in particular interpersonal trauma at the hands of caregivers. These findings could inform screening procedures and low-threshold access to psychotherapeutic care.	en_GB
dc.description.sponsorship	Gefördert durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 491381577	de
dc.language.iso	eng	de
dc.rights	CC BY	*
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/	*
dc.subject.ddc	610 Medizin	de_DE
dc.subject.ddc	610 Medical sciences	en_GB
dc.title	The association of childhood abuse and neglect with tattoos and piercings in the population : evidence from a representative community survey	de_DE
dc.type	Zeitschriftenaufsatz	de
dc.identifier.doi	http://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-8781	-
jgu.type.dinitype	article	en_GB
jgu.type.version	Published version	de
jgu.type.resource	Text	de
jgu.organisation.department	FB 04 Medizin	de
jgu.organisation.number	2700	-
jgu.organisation.name	Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz	-
jgu.rights.accessrights	openAccess	-
jgu.journal.title	BMC Psychology	de
jgu.journal.volume	10	de
jgu.pages.alternative	105	de
jgu.publisher.year	2022	-
jgu.publisher.name	BioMed Central	de
jgu.publisher.place	London	de
jgu.publisher.issn	2050-7283	de
jgu.organisation.place	Mainz	-
jgu.subject.ddccode	610	de
jgu.publisher.doi	10.1186/s40359-022-00811-x	de
jgu.organisation.ror	https://ror.org/023b0x485	-
jgu.subject.dfg	Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften	de
Appears in collections:	DFG-491381577-G

Files in This Item:

	File	Description	Size	Format
	the_association_of_childhood_-20230209095019119.pdf		1.77 MB	Adobe PDF	View/Open

Show simple item record