A Comparative Study of Mental Health Issues among Tattooed and Non-tattooed Young Adults

Abstract

The present research work titled, ‘A Comparative Study of Mental Health Issues Among Tattooed and Non-Tattooed Young Adults’, is based on the enquiry, could many tattoos, in different parts of the body done over a period of time, an indication of onset of mental illness? Why people willingly inflict pain on their body? Do the young adults who get multiple tattoos on different parts of their body have mental health issues? The objectives of the study wereto study themental health of young tattooed adults with the Hypotheses: a) There will be an effect of tattoos on the mental health of young adults with tattoos on different parts of the body, and b) There will be a significant difference between the mental health of tattooed and non-tattooed young adults and the Variablesbeingtattoo (IV) and mental health (DV). Tool: Mental Health Inventory by Jagdish and A.K. Srivastava (1983) that has 56 questions covering six dimensions i.e., positive self-evaluation (10 questions), perception of reality (8 questions), integration of personality (12 questions), autonomy (6 questions), group-oriented attitudes (10 questions), and environmental mastery (10 questions). The Sample Populationwas 60 young adults between the age range of 18 and 25 years (30 with tattoos on different parts of the body and 30 without tattoos) using purposive sampling and Exploratory Research Design. The statistical analysis was done using Descriptive Statisticst test and correlation. This study clearly indicates that tattooed young adults scored poorly in mental health status.