Topic Proposal: Is the stigma of tattoos influential in the academic performance of college
students?
I.
Introduction
A. The stigma of tattoos has remained present over many years and has
transcended to our current society today. Although tattoos are becoming
largely more acceptable in society, there are still many events of prejudice
against this sub-culture or class of body modified persons co-existing with
non-tattooed people. Gradually the sub-culture identity of tattoos has been
developed as a class in itself that, in accordance to the stigma of tattoos, is
deemed inferior. The issue of such a prominent stigma of tattoos is quite
overbearing and highly significant in unveiling the perception of society and
its functionality in response to revolutionary identities of sub-culture. The role
of education in society is another factor of the diverse lifestyles many people
acquire, therefore there will be an imminent evaluation on whether tattoos
influence academic performance in college students in response to the
everlasting stigma in our culture. Tattoos are seen more in the universities
amongst the students and it is all simply due to the fact that the development
and revolutionary experience as a university student provides and bolsters the
acceptance and enhancement of self-concept. Through the role of education as
a driving aspect in our society as well as the sub-cultural identity of tattoos,
the investigation of such a relationship will be discussed and scrutinized in
depth in order to discover whether these two components of our present-day
culture acquire a correlation.
II.
Body
A. Major Point #1: The sub-culture identity tattoos acquire in society today is
critically significant in considering the perceptions of new trending cultural
aspects.
a. “Due to the rise in tattoo popularity, a method to analyze stigma
against tattooed individuals is needed. The Martin Stigma Against
Tattoos Survey (MSATS), was created, taken by 210 undergraduate
students along with a Big Five personality measure, and subjected to
factor analysis and preliminary evaluation of validity. […] Items with
face validity and significant differences between tattooed and nontattooed participants on MSATS scores provided initial evidence of
construct validity. Perhaps dispelling one myth underlying stigma, no
significant differences were found in the GPA of tattooed versus nontattooed college students.” (Martin & Dula, 2010)
b. “As increasingly diverse groups of people get tattoos, popular
perceptions are often discordant with the individual meanings behind
tattoos. Still, tattooing is often seen as a negative behavior.”(Martin &
Dula, 2010)
c. “With the number of adults embracing tattoos, one may wonder about
the increasing number of educators who sport tattoos. Does this affect
their ability to teach their students? Most students are unaware that
their educators even have tattoos.[…] Nickerson said, “I never want
my tattoos to be an issue while I am teaching. I always try to conceal
them while teaching. I guess I am ‘old school’ that way. I don’t want
my students to focus on my tattoos during class, nor do I want anyone
to judge me by seeing my tattoos.” […]As one can see, Nickerson’s
teaching abilities are not affected by his tattoos. This is also true for
the one out of five adults in today’s society who possess them as well.
Having a tattoo does not make you a different person. Tattoos may
make someone unique or present their ideals about aspects of the
world or their lives. Yet, having them does not change their
adequacy.” (Bollman, 2014).
d. “After studying the art of tattooing for about five years, the sociology
doctoral candidate found that its significance in society has changed
dramatically throughout history, just as his own reasons for getting
tattooed have evolved over the past decade” (List, 2013).
e. ““It used to be common for a working-class person to walk into a
tattoo parlor, pick a design off the wall and get it tattooed for $50. But
now, young, college-aged people are investing large sums of money in
designing individualized tattoos with personal meaning, Strohecker
said. […] “The middle-class approach to tattooing emerged in the
’90s,” he said. “Custom tattooing has become the hegemonic
narrative.” ” (List, 2013).
B. Major Point #2: The role of education in society and how academic
performance varies amongst students in the universities.
a) “Academic performance is one key component within this research
experiment because the study is the difference between individuals
with tattoos or without tattoos and their academic success. Therefore it
would be beneficial to comprehend what makes up a “good student”
and how it can be related to body art.”(Janney, n.d.)
b) “Evidence has also shown that there is not a significant relationship
between body modification and grade point averages (Krell, 2003).
Although this study determined that there is not relationship between
the two does not mean that this is true for all experiments because they
researched all body modifications rather than only tattoos.” (Janney,
n.d.).
c) The diverse conglomerate of students in the university contributes to
the variation and fluctuation of scores simply due to the fact that there
are definite extraneous factors that implement the motivation,
consistency, and devotion of the individual with or without tattoos.
d) Janney provides an investigation that serves as a small sample source
of the relationship between tattoos and college students in the
university; the outcome and feedback obtained at the end of the
experiment gives an essential perception on the aptitude of college
students and reaffirms their sub-culture class amongst non-tattooed
persons in college.
III.
C. Major Point #3: An in-depth discussion based on credible sources that have
fully investigated the relationship between tattoos and college students.
a) “Previous research has highlighted several stereotypes about those
with tattoos, including being unsuccessful in school, coming from
broken homes, having an unhappy childhood, rarely attending church,
having poor decision-making skills, usually obtaining body
modifications while inebriated, and being easy victim to peer pressure
[…] This study seeks to create an empirically sound, reliable and valid
measure for the use in accurately assessing stigma against tattooed
individuals.” (Martin & Dula, 2010).
b) “Some researchers argue that the trend in tattooing and piercing
indicates a shift in fashion and a break with body art's exclusive
association with lower class people and deviant activities (DeMello,
1995; Ewey, 1998; Martin, 1997). In this argument, the concept that
tattoos or piercings are a form of self-mutilation or a way of
expressing a negative attitude is rejected (Frederick & Bradley, 2000;
Martin, 1997). However, little evidence has been presented to
demonstrate that the association between tattooing and various
negative behaviors or personality disorders was unjustified in the past
or has changed in the current culture.” (Manuel & Sheehan, 2007).
c) “The purpose of this study is to examine the history of tattoos, issues
related to college students with tattoos and to identify implications for
counselors.” (Dansby, Giles & Johnson, 2011).
d) The source by Dansby-Giles, Giles, and Johnson is explicitly a
presentation of the many studies conducted on the relationship
between tattoos and college students and the issue as a sub-cultural
class within society due to the stigma of tattoos; the following source
includes many of the other sources I acquire in my references which
provides an evaluation of discussion, results, and limitations amongst
all the sources.
e) “[…] the results of this study concur with most studies in finding that
people choosing to tattoo are different on some personality variables.
However, in this college population the differences were not as
extreme as they have been in previous studies involving less normative
people (e.g. incarcerated people, suicides, and mental health
facilities).” (Manuel & Sheehan, 2007).
Conclusion
References
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