Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Body piercing--Psychological aspects; Tattooing--Public opinion; Body piercing--Public opinion; Surgery, Plastic--Psychological aspects; Surgery, Plastic--Public opinion; Tattooing--Psychological aspects; Academic theses;

Abstract

The current study examined the psychological characteristics of individuals with and without tattoos and body piercings, along with their perceptions of cosmetic surgery as either positive or negative. Psychological characteristics measured included: self-esteem, locus of control, conformity, and fear of negative evaluation. Participants were ninety-seven individuals who completed paper-and-pencil measures encompassing the various psychological characteristics as well as a demographic and risk assessment questionnaire. Participants were recruited through the PSPM system established by the University of Northern Iowa and did not significantly vary on demographic information provided. The current study's hypotheses based upon similar research were: (1) individuals who approve of or who themselves have participated in piercing and tattooing will be more likely to report peer approval of these behaviors than individuals without piercing and tattooing; (2) individuals with lower self-esteem will be more likely to receive body modification or will approve of body modification more than individuals with higher self-esteem; (3) individuals with an external locus of control will be more likely to receive or approve of body modification than individuals with an internal locus of control; ( 4) peer conformity will be positively related to piercing and tattooing; ( 5) fear of negative evaluation will be negatively related to piercing and tattooing; and (6) individuals who perceive cosmetic surgery more positively will be more socially conforming to peers and will have a greater fear of negative evaluation than individuals who view cosmetic surgery more negatively. Results of this study did not support the stated hypotheses, possibly due to a lack of statistical power or to unaccounted for confounds within the study.

Year of Submission

2006

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Psychology

First Advisor

Mary Losch

Second Advisor

Andrew Gilpin

Third Advisor

Frank Barrios

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

2006

Object Description

1 PDF file (72 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Download

Comments?

Share

COinS