bodyartist
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Dec 14, 2002, 12:15 AM
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Teen's Tattoos may signal risky behavior
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This is an interesting article pulled off a med-search site: ====== Teen`s Tattoo May Signal Risky Behavior: Study
Reuters Health
December 3, 2002
The bright red rose or cute dolphin tattooed on an adolescent's ankle or arm may hint at his or her penchant for smoking, fighting, and other risky behaviors, new study findings suggest.
"This study demonstrates that tattooing is a common behavior among adolescents and is strongly related to a wide variety of behaviors that put adolescents at risk for morbidity and mortality," write lead study author Dr. Timothy A. Roberts, of Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong in Rochester, New York, and his colleagues.
"Tattoos can serve as a marker for adolescents who are at higher risk for involvement in risky behavior," Roberts told Reuters Health.
His study is based on information from more than 6,000 adolescents who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health.
Overall, nearly 5% of respondents said they had a permanent tattoo, Roberts and his colleagues report in the December issue of Pediatrics.
These adolescents were four times as likely as their non-tattooed peers to say they had ever had sexual intercourse, and were nearly three times as likely to say they had joined a gang, the report indicates. They were also about twice as likely to say they had skipped or were failing school, or that they had been involved in fighting and other violent behavior.
Full story not available
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