Study says tattooing may be an attempt to mask anxiety, which could be sexual in character
The conclusion that the practice of tattooing among sailors is prompted by emotional maladjustment is one of those put forward by Mr RP Youniss, of the Catholic University of America, as a result of a psychological survey carried out among several hundred sailors of the US Navy. The research was carried out at the naval medical research laboratory at New London, Connecticut.
The main tool of the investigation was a form of psychological personality test which has been developed principally for use in the US Navy (it is called the personality inventory barometer) by a modification of the "Taylor manifest anxiety scale." Two groups of sailors selected at random were tested by this means and also examined for the presence of tattoo marks and questioned about their motives and intentions in this respect.
Mr Youniss concludes that there is a surprising absence of correlation between the intelligence of his subjects and the presence of tattoo marks on their bodies. He has also reported that the group of sailors with only one tattoo mark were indistinguishable from that without tattoos. On this account he suggests that this "one time fling" maybe of "only transient psychological significance and not indicative of strong underlying anxiety or personal conflict."
On the other hand sailors with more than one tattoo were found to obtain higher scores in the personality test, and thus to be significantly more emotionally maladjusted. Amongst these men, the men who declared their intention of accumulating still further tattoos were significantly more maladjusted in terms of the tested scores.
Mr Youniss comments that the practice of tattooing may be "an attempt to resolve, deny, or symbolically ward off anxiety," and suggests that this anxiety is most often sexual in character.