Why Do People Get Tattooed? The Psychology Behind The Question

By Sidra Lackey

Almost one-third of people are tattooed in the United States. That’s a lot of tattoos to consider. But more curiously, why did these millions of people get tattooed? What mentally makes someone choose to get permanent marks tattooed into their skin?

Clinical Psychologist Vinita Mehta Ph.D., Ed.M. answers this question with research in “Why People Get Tattoos” for Psychology Today using psychologist Luzelle Naudé’s study. The question: “What makes some people choose to get tattoos?” was researched by Naudé at the University of the Free State in South Africa. ““My Body is My Journal, and My Tattoos are My Story”: South African Psychology Students’ Reflections on Tattoo Practices,” was the result.

Naudé and her research team, Jacques Jordaan and Luna Bergh, wanted to understand why college students would choose to get tattooed or not get tattooed, as well as to understand the students’ perceptions about tattooing. For this study, participants enrolled in a psychology research methods course and answered questionnaires that asked about their experiences involving tattoos: if they had one or more tattoos, if their friends had one or more tattoos, their reasons for having one tattoo or not, their thoughts on tattooed people in general. 

The results? Surprising. Naudé discovered most of the 175 participants (78%) did not have tattoos, neither did most of their parents (92%). But, most of the participants’ friends (74%) had tattoos and almost half (47%) were thinking of getting their first tattoo or another tattoo. Participants’ reasons for getting a tattoo or not getting a tattoo were almost equal, 47% answering positively and 50% answering negatively.

  The main motivation for participants who got a tattoo (25%) was a personal meaning. Participants shared reasons such as “to keep my mother’s memory,” “a way of honoring my first child,” and “presented what I was going through at a certain time of my life.” Some participants (12%) thought their tattoos were an extension or expression or who they were. One person from the study remarked, “My body is a book, my tattoos is [sic] my story.” Other participants reported they found their tattoos to be an appealing form of art. Participants with positive views about tattooed people, viewed tattoos as: “attractive and those who sport them as cool, trendy, fashionable, interesting, spontaneous, creative, artistic, free-spirited, more open/accepting, liberal, adventurous, brave, strong, courageous, and unafraid of commitment and pain.” One participant simply said, “People with tattoos are the realest people [you] ever will meet.”

This study conducted showed that most people who choose to become tattooed, do have a deeper meaning behind getting a tattoo. There is no wrong reason why to get tattooed but there is something to be said and appreciated when there is a meaningful reason behind a tattoo.

Tattoo collectors: What is your tattoo story? Why did you decide to get tattooed?