Running head: STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES ON GETTING TATTOO

Title: Students Perspectives on Getting Tattoo

Aw Yang Jia Wern
Lee Mee Yee
Lim Sze Mun
Loke Suet Man
HELP College of Arts and Technology

STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES ON GETTING TATTOO

Introduction
Nowadays, the popularity of tattoo is growing among all walks of life and getting
tattoos has become a trend among college students (Stockard, Appel, & O'Neill, 2009). In
Fullerton, California, there are at least 17 tattoo shops can be seen through a short drive in the
city. In the past, someone who has tattoo is treated as tattoo artist but todays tattooed people
are judged that they have a poor kinship (Coats, 2014). Tattoo has went from subculture to a
pop culture and a report from Pew Research Center shows that 36 percent of Americans aged
18-25, who most are the college students, have at least one tattoo (Thobo-Carlsen, 2014).
Undeniably, tattoo is more common among college students but it is not necessarily accepted
in this decade (Coats, 2014).
Among college students, there are different reasons to get or not to get tattoos. For
majority of tattooed people, tattoo can be represent important role transitions and as a form of
identity and self-expression (Dickson, 2015). They have tattoo to eternalize of their love ones
by inking and bring the feelings of hopes and motivation. From the other side, to get tattooed
is unsafe as the tattooist might be unlicensed or illegal (Hudson, 2015). Therefore, college
students have to understand the reasons they get tattooed but also have to think of their health
concern and legalism of typical tattooist they meet.
However, tattoos are very limited within the workplace. Under the law, employees
have no legal right to show their tattoos in the workplace but employers have the legal right
to require employees to cover or remove tattoos (Dress codes and employee appearance,
n.d.). So, employees must be careful when dressing for work to prevent showing their tattoos
in their workplace. Besides, tattoos always leave a bad impression for the old folks
generation during peoples first job interview (Kennedy, 2015). Consequently, invisible
tattoos are mostly accepted in workplace compared to visible tattoos.

STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES ON GETTING TATTOO

The purpose of the present study was to find answers to the following questions:
1. Do college students have tattoos?
2. What are the reasons for students whether to get tattoos?
3. Do college students think that having tattoos will hinder them from getting a job in
the future?

STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES ON GETTING TATTOO

Method
Participants
The sample consisted of students enrolled in students perspectives on getting tattoo
research in a college which locate in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The students perspectives on
getting tattoo research are required of all students who take programme in Pre-University,
diploma, undergraduate, or professional accounting. There are 10 surveys that have
administered by researchers. Among 10 surveys, 2 females and 8 males have completed the
research. Moreover, there are 3 undergraduate students, 4 diploma students and 3 professional
accounting students are recorded in the student classification as part of the reports. In the
terms of age, the sample consisted of 1 male in the 23-25 bracket, 5 males in the 20-22
bracket, 2 males in the 17-19 bracket, 2 female in the 23-25 bracket.
Instruments
A survey entitled Students Perspectives on Getting Tattoo was developed for this
study. The main three demographic questions: gender, age, student classification, two
questions about students idea of getting tattoo for themselves, two questions about reasons
for students to get tattoo or not to get tattoo, one question for expression after having tattoo
for tattooed student, one question for the consideration of bringing trouble if students have
tattoo, one questions for them to think about impaction of tattoo to their future career and
another one question for acceptance of invisible tattoo in working area are recorded as survey
questions and also part of main information sources.

STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES ON GETTING TATTOO

Results
College students with tattoo
Total responses for number of college students with tattoo are shown in Table 1.
Among 10 respondents, only 10% of the respondents (n = 1) reported having tattoo. Also,
10% of the respondents (n = 1) reported having one tattoo in college life. At the other end of
the continuum, 90% of students (n = 9) surveyed responded having no tattoo in college life.
Table 1
Number of college students with tattoo
Number of tattoos
0
1
2
3 and above

Number of students
9
1
0
0

Percentage of students
90
10
0
0

Total responses for gender of college students with tattoo are shown in Table 2. Of 10
respondents, 8 of male respondents responded only 12.5% of them (n = 1) have tattoo and
87.5% of them (n = 7) have no tattoo. On the other hand, 2 of female respondents reported
100% of them (n = 2) have no tattoo.
Table 2
Gender of college students with tattoo
Gender
Male
Female

Number of students
With tattoo
No tattoo
1
7
0
2

Percentage of students
With tattoo
No tattoo
12.5
87.5
0.0
100.0

STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES ON GETTING TATTOO

Total responses for age of college students with tattoo are shown in Table 3. There are
2 students which are age of 17-19 responded 100% of them (n = 2) have no tattoo. Besides, 5
respondents which in the 20-22 age range reported 20% of them (n = 1) have tattoo and 80%
of them (n = 4) have no tattoo. Another 3 respondents with age of 23-25 responded 100% of
them have no tattoo (n = 3).
Table 3
Age of college students with tattoo
Age
17-19
20-22
23-25
26 and above

Number of students
With tattoo
No tattoo
0
2
1
4
0
3
0
0

Percentage of students
With tattoo
No tattoo
0
100
20
80
0
100
0
0

Total responses for classification of college students with tattoo are shown in Table 4.
There are 4 diploma students reported 25% of them (n = 1) have tattoo and 75% of them (n =
3) have no tattoo. Then, there are 3 undergraduate students responded 100% of them (n = 3)
have no tattoo. Among 3 professional accounting students, 100% of them (n = 3) have no
tattoo.
Table 4
Classification of college students with tattoo
Programme
Pre-University
Diploma
Undergraduate
Professional accounting

Number of students
With tattoo
No tattoo
0
0
1
3
0
3
0
3

Percentage of students
With tattoo
No tattoo
0
0
25
75
0
100
0
100

STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES ON GETTING TATTOO

Total responses for consideration of getting tattoo of college students are shown in
Table 5. Of 10 respondents, only 20% of respondents (n = 2) are considering to get tattoo in
future. Another 80% of respondents (n = 8) are not considering to get tattoo in future.
Table 5
Consideration of getting tattoo of college students
Consideration of getting tattoo
Yes
No

Number of students
2
8

Percentage of students
20
80

There are two respondents with no tattoo had misunderstood the question as they had
responded they have no regret about having tattoo so that the result of these respondents is
not be taken.
Total responses for college students have regretted having tattoos are shown in Table
6. There are only 12.5% of respondents (n = 1) reported they are not regret to have tattoo.
Besides that, 87.5% of respondents (n = 7) responded that they do not regret to have tattoo
because they have no tattoo.
Table 6
College students have regretted having tattoo
Regret having tattoo
Yes
No
Dont have tattoo

Number of students
0
1
7

Percentage of students
0
12.5
87.5

STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES ON GETTING TATTOO

Reasons for students whether to get tattoo

Total responses for reasons for college students to get tattoo are shown in Table 7.30%
of college students (n = 3) consider to get tattoo due to art and beauty reason. Personal
inspiration is also one of the reason for 20% of college students (n = 2) to get tattoo. The
least percentage which is 10% of college students (n = 1) to get tattoo because of rebellion.
Meanwhile, the rest of 20% of college students (n = 2) have others reason to get tattoo.
Table 7
Reasons for college students to get tattoo
Reasons to get tattoo
Art/beauty
Personal inspiration
Rebellion
Others

Number of students
3
2
1
2

Percentage of students
30
20
10
20

Total responses for reasons for college students not to get tattoo are shown in Table 8.
Most of the college students which are 40% students (n = 4) not consider to get tattoo due to
negative impression. Religion is one of the reason for 20% of students (n = 2) not to get
tattoo. While the another 40% (n = 4) of participants do not consider to get tattoo due to
disapproval of family, fear, skin allergy, and others where each occupies 10%.
Table 8
Reasons for college students not to get tattoo
Reasons not to get tattoo
Negative impression
Religion
Skin allergy
Disapproval of family
Fear
Others

Number of students
4
2
1
1
1
1

Percentage of students
40
20
10
10
10
10

STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES ON GETTING TATTOO

College students perspectives on whether having tattoo will hinder future job
opportunities
There is one respondent misunderstood the questions so that the result of this
respondent is not be taken.
Total responses for college students perspectives on whether tattoo as a trouble in
future job application which had deducted one error result are shown in Table 9. There are
55.6% of the respondents (n = 5) agree with tattooed college students will face trouble in
future job application while another 44.4% of the respondents (n = 4) disagree with that.
Table 9
College students perspectives on whether tattoo as a trouble in future job application
Tattoo as trouble in future job
application
Agree
Disagree

Number of students

Percentage of students

5
4

55.6
44.4

Total respondents for college students perspectives on whether invisible tattoo can be
accepted in working area are shown in Table 10. There are 100% of respondents (n = 9) agree
with that invisible can be accepted in working area. On the other hand, there is 0% of the
respondents (n = 0) disagree with that invisible tattoo can be accepted in working area.
Table 10
College students perspectives on whether invisible tattoo can be accepted in working area
Invisible tattoo can be
accepted in working area
Agree
Disagree

Number of students

Percentage of students

9
0

100
0

STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES ON GETTING TATTOO

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Discussion
Conclusion
College students with tattoo
Among 10 respondents, the results reported that there are 10% of the college students
(n = 1) with tattoo. In Malaysia, high school students are not allowed to have tattoos because
having tattoo is against school rules. As a result, students are more likely to be getting a tattoo
in their college life as there is no such a strict rule for tattoo in college. Besides, Travis (2011)
reported that of 87 respondents in the survey, 42.5% of college students (n = 37) responded
they have tattoo.
In addition, the findings also reported that mostly tattooed students are male as there
are only 10% male tattooed student (n = 1) among 10 college students. Indeed, according to
the poll conducted by Oxygen Media (2012), men said they got a tattoo are cultural or
religious reasons, to show loyalty and also express patriotism. According to Agustin (2011),
the survey results showed that there are average of 14.62% male college students (n = 31)
with tattoo and 56.13% female college students (n = 116) with tattoo.
Besides that, according to the findings, there are 12.5% of students (n = 1) responded
that they have no regret about having tattoo. Of course, there are some reasons of regretting
reasons such as the tattoo has no meaning, bad tattoo drawing and also change of beliefs.
(Aversari, 2012). According to YouGov (2015), among 1669 respondents, there is average of
14.02% of respondents (n = 234) regret getting tattoo and 85.98% of respondents (n = 1435)
have no regretted having tattoo.

STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES ON GETTING TATTOO

Reasons for students whether to get tattoo
Relating to the reasons for students whether to get tattoo, most college students
which are 30% of students (n = 3) consider to get tattoo due to art and beauty. Most people
wished to have tattoos because they are attracted by the beauty of tattoo. A survey has
revealed that most college students got aesthetically pleasing images tattoo (Price, 2016).
Most college students which are 40% of students (n = 4) are not considering to have
tattoo due to negative impression. In todays society, most people do have a negative
impression on tattooed people. A result has showed tattooed women were rated as less
physically attractive, more sexually promiscuous, and heavier drinkers than non-tattooed
women (Jarrett, 2014).
Besides that, the investigators found that college students are considering to get tattoo
due to art and beauty reason. However, they could not have tattoo due to religion reason. For
instance, Islam is prohibited to have tattoo. The majority of Muslims consider permanent
tattoos to be haram, based on an oral tradition (hadith) of the Prophet Muhammad (Simon,
2015).
There are also students who wanted to get their own unique idea of tattoo due to their
personal inspiration. Unfortunately, they are having skin allergy problem which banned them
from having tattoo. A new study found that among ten people, there is 10% of people will
suffer skin allergic after getting tattoo (Todaro, 2015). Hence, it is assured that students stop
looking to have tattoo due to skin allergy as it is risky.
Moreover, everyone has their own rebellious stage. There are students who consider
getting tattoos due to rebellion. Young people have always rebelled against their parent by
going against societal norms such as having tattoo (Rose, 2014). However, they could not do
it due to worry about negative impression from others in the future as having tattoo might
keep them away from their job opportunities.

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STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES ON GETTING TATTOO

College students perspectives on whether tattoo as a trouble in future job application
The findings reported that 55.6% of the students (n = 5) agreed that tattooed students
will face troubles in future job applications. A survey showed that 76% of respondents (n =
2052) felt the opportunity of tattooed people for getting a job was low (Gouveia, 2016). This
is because there are many employers do not accept the tattooed people to be hired as their
employees. Besides, there are many work places had set up the dress code which banned
body arts (Hartwell-Walker, n.d.). The employers worried that workers with tattoo will bring
negative impression to the customers and following affect the image of company (Bromstein,
2014).
On the other hand, 100% of the respondents (n = 9) agree that tattooed people will
be accepted in working area if their tattoos are invisible. Some of the jobs can accept
employees with invisible tattoos in working area (Cabincrew, 2013). For instance, job in
fields of business, government, education, law and so forth required employees to cover their
tattoos while working (Diaz, 2011). This is because the professionalism workers have to
present by remaining good impression to others. For example, people who worked as primary
school teachers have to make sure their tattoos are invisible as they are role models of
students (Hart, 2014).

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STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES ON GETTING TATTOO

Recommendations
Before getting tattooed, it is important to know the risks we might have, especially for
people who want to get their first tattoo. We exclude the people who already have skin
diseases or other skin allergic. The use of unsterile needles and equipment can caused
infection and the spread of diseases such as hepatitis. Next, allergic reactions happen on
tattooed area by tattoo dyes especially red, green, yellow and blue dyes, it might be rare
but they happen when they do. This can occur even years after you get the tattoo (Mayo
Clinic Staff, 2015). Many people who get tattoos experience what's called an acute
inflammatory reaction, for example, their skin becomes red, slightly swollen, and irritated at
the site of the tattoo (Rodriguez, 2010).
People who wish to get tattoo have to know which parts of body are suitable to be
tattooed. Different parts of the body have a different threshold for pain and logically, an area
that is more flesh than bone such as shoulder, forearms, outer arm should hurt less (Dhruvi,
2013).Anyway, people for a first tattoo would not be recommended having it on shoulder or
back because it is more difficult to reach for tattoo aftercare and they may get less enjoyment
from it since it is difficult to see without a mirror (Adal, 2015).
Having visible or invisible tattoo is also to concern by people before getting tattoo.
There are not many companies that accept tattooed people for the sight of negative
influences. (Johnson, 2013) showed that if a company is hesitating to choose which
interviewers who have absolutely no difference in their skills to be hired, the interviewer who
has no tattoo will definitely be the first consideration. In current situation, most of tattooed
people will not get fired of having tattoo but not hired in a higher chance. Anyway, they still
have to know the risks of tattoo before they get it.

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STUDENTS PERSPECTIVES ON GETTING TATTOO

References
Agustin, T. A. (2011, August). Are tattoos fashion? Applying the social change theory.
Retrieved from https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?
accession=ohiou1313774007&disposition=inline
Aversari, D. C. (2012, February 29). What are the reasons that people regret getting their
tattoos? [Msg 1]. Message posted to https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-reasonsthat-people-regret-getting-their-tattoos
Diaz, S. (2011, August 21). Think before you ink: Could your tattoo cost you a job? Retrieved
from http://college.usatoday.com/2011/08/21/think-before-you-ink-could-that-tattoocost-you-a-job-one-day/
Gouveia, A. (2013, January 21). Survey: Tattoos hurt your chances of getting a job. Retrieved
from http://www.sfgate.com/jobs/salary/article/Survey-Tattoos-Hurt-Your-Chancesof-Getting-a-Job-4220248.php
Jarett, C. (2014, July 22). The psychology of first impressions digested. Retrieved from
http://digest.bps.org.uk/2014/07/the-psychology-of-first-impressions.html
Oxygen Media. (2012, June 3). Women love ink - outnumber men with tattoos. Retrieved
from http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2012/03/06/women-love-ink-outnumbermen-with-tattoos-according-to-oxygen-media-poll-985105/20120306oxygen01/
Price, O. (2016, February 25). Northeastern students share passion for ink. The Huntington
News. Retrieved from http://huntnewsnu.com/
Rose, S. (2014, August 6). Tattoos are not artistic, unique, or rebellious. Retrieved from
http://www.returnofkings.com/41269/tattoos-are-not-artistic-unique-or-rebellious

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Simon, S. (2015, July 12). Tattoos!! We listen and we disobey. Retrieved from
https://safiasimon.wordpress.com/2015/07/12/tattoos-we-listen-and-we-disobey/
Todaro, C. (2015, May 28). Tattoo-related skin allergy? It could be your ink colour. Retrieved
from http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/research-study-discovers-shockingnumber-severe-ta/nmQQD/
Travis, Z. (2011). Tattoos and their Influences on college students. Retrieved from
https://www.rit.edu/cla/communication/sites/rit.edu.cla.communication/files/images/Z
achary%20Travis%20-%20Senior%20Thesis%20-%202114.pdf
YouGov. (2015, July 10). YouGov survey results. Retrieved from
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lResults_150710_tattoos-Website.pdf

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