Relationship between Self-Esteem and Ink Body Art

The present exploratory study attempted to understand the relationship between self- esteem and ink body art. The sample for the study was selected using purposive sampling; consisting of two groups of participants: with ink body art (N=30), and with no ink body art (N=30); with the age range of 18 to 30 years. The participants’ global self-esteem was assessed using Rosenberg’s Self Esteem Scale developed by Morris Rosenberg (1965); and the state self-esteem was assessed using The State Self-Esteem Scale developed by Heatherton and Polivy (1991) which measured 3 components of self-esteem: Performance, Social, and Appearance. To further analyze the perception of the participants towards ink body art, an open ended questionnaire made of 3 questions asking the participants about their perception of tattoos, whether they think that tattoos enhance self-esteem; and regarding getting more tattoos. For data analysis, mean, SD, percentages and t-test were used. The findings of the study suggested that there is no significant difference in the global self-esteem of the participants with ink body art, and without ink body art. However, an individual’s state self-esteem is temporarily enhanced by getting ink body art as suggested by the results on the State Self-Esteem Scale of the participants with ink body art, and without ink body art. These results are significant to the contemporary prevalence of tattoos in socioeconomically developed societies.