relationship between body art and adolescent self esteem

Adolescents are experimenting with body art such as tattoos and body piercing, despite documented medical risks. Nurses are in a key position to formulate appropriate educational and counseling strategies to minimize the complications associated with these practices. Low self esteem has been linked to poor health behaviors and harmful life style choices in adolescents. The purpose of this study was to determine how self esteem differed between adolescents engaging in body art and those who do not. A non experimental, descriptive research design utilizing the Coopersmith Self Esteem Inventory was used to evaluate self esteem in a group of 53 tattooed/body pierced, and 53 non-tattooed/body pierced high school students. Results indicated that a significantly lower self esteem was characteristic of the body art group.