<p>I don’t associate tattoos or piercings with drug use. I guess if I make any association, it is with artists/creative-types. I don’t have a tattoo and no one in my immediate family does, but I don’t consider getting tattoos a poor choice - just a choice.</p>
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In my personal experience, those with tattoos and/or piercings are much more likely to lightly partake of drugs (typically marijuana). However, the only heavy substance abusers I have known (a case-of-beer-a-day aloholic, a 7x DUI offender, and a guy who would snort/swallow/inject everything he could get) have been tattoo and piercing free.</p>
<p>While I am still thinking about getting a tattoo & would like it if marijuana was more regulated ( & taxed), I also have forms of expression i don’t care for.</p>
<p>I don’t think more than one or two small tattoos that are visible with street clothes are a good idea, and then only if you still can hide them ( for instance if one is on your ankle)
Gauges are ugly to me, but not as hideous as someone who is careless about dying their grey hair. ( which is much more common in my area)
Lots of tattoos should be reserved for those in the arts, where they seem to be de rigueur.</p>
<p>But that said, I know several musicians with many tattoos who don’t use drugs ( except for caffiene), many don’t even drink and this guy, who is one of the kindest, most loyal people I know, even quit smoking cigarettes! Yay!
[Even if I didn’t want to learn guitar, I would still pay money to sit & talk to him, he is the best listener!](<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Rouse_(musician">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Rouse_(musician</a>) & cute- blue eyes with dark hair doesn’t hurt either. ;)</p>
<p>So they are out there. But remind your D it is easier to find a sweet guy and add tattoos, rather than trying to take a tattooed one & make them considerate if they aren’t already.
Since I think generally you need to be 18 to get a tattoo in an licensed shop, perhaps the age is the attraction?</p>
<p>There are quite a few posters here who failed a statistics class in their HS or college past. 
Just kidding.</p>
<p>It seems to me that missypie would like to know if there are colleges with higher than average % of tattooed males who are serious about studying and the future life and career. (The main idea is to let her tattoo-fascinated D mingle with tattooed, smart, serious kids).</p>
<p>BunsenBurner, thanks for dredging up the article!</p>
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<p>Yes!!!</p>
<p>I saw a piece that listed the top 10 cities for tattoos using the number of advertized tattoo parlors per 100,000. Austin, Tx. is in the top 10. Also, UT-Austin has a tattoo page on the student health services. With enrollment limited in state to a high rank in class perhaps UT-Austin?</p>
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I do not know where you will find accurate information on this, but I see no reason to expect that the tattooed population of any given university will be substantially different than the non-tattooed population. Harvard almost certainly has a couple of non-tattooed losers and some heavily-inked genius good guys, and South Central Louisiana State (Go Muddogs!) probably just has worse losers and lower-achieving good guys.</p>
<p>Pacific Northwest is usually cited as a place where body modifications are quite abundant. I am not sure if the student body at U-Dub has a higher than national average % of tattooed bodies, though. I am on campus quite often, yet have not noticed anything unusual. One of the reasons, possibly, is that everyone here wears long pants and long sleeves almost year round. Multiple ear piercings - yes, they are common.</p>
<p>“Id be interested in hearing from other posters. Within your actual knowledge of those you are close to, are there substance losers (drug and alcohol abusers) without tattoos? Are more of your known substance losers without tattoos? In fact, are most of your known substance losers without tattoos?”</p>
<p>I think there are more substance losers that DO NOT have tattoos, just because there are more PEOPLE that do not have tattoos. Also I think there is a distinction drawn in OPs opening subject line. They young people I picture with the description she has given have multiple and/or prominent tattoos and facial piercings other than a tiny stud in the nose.</p>
<p>Of all the people that I know that are all tatted up (not just a few or concealed tattoos) and with multiple facial piercings - I don’t know ANY that are not substance abusers.</p>
<p>To be fair, I don’t know a lot of tatted up, totally pierced people. (maybe 15 tops) So, not sure the sample size is indicative of much.</p>
<p>"Here is a paper (which I thought might be relevant to our little discussion) by a group of Texas Tech researchers published in The Social Science Journal in 2010:</p>
<p><a href=“Home Page”>Home Page;
<p>Apparently, the quantity (and the quality) of tattoos and piercings matters."</p>
<p>THANK YOU. Not surprised. ;)</p>
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<p>Interesting. The small personal trainer gym I go to has several heavily tattoo’d trainers. Arms, neck etc. Including the owner. My trainer also has multiple ear piercings. I’ve known the owner and two of the trainers for over 10 years. They are substance clean. It is the clients (Dallas professionals) who come in with morning after tales.</p>
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I find this interesting, if only because by the standards of the survey I am both tattooed and deviant… but all my “deviant” behavior was pre-tattoo!</p>
<p>
[The</a> Body Project](<a href=“http://thebodyproject.bradley.edu/illness/modification.shtml]The”>http://thebodyproject.bradley.edu/illness/modification.shtml)</p>
<p>07DAD, that’s really interesting. I know survivors of rapes, abuse, DV, etc who have tattooed over their scars.</p>
<p>A search on the topic in PubMed yielded quite a few results. Here is the abstract of a 2012 paper on tattoos in Australia:</p>
<p>[Who</a> gets tattoos? Demographic and behavioral correlates of ever being tattooed in a representative sample of men and women.](<a href=“Who gets tattoos? Demographic and behavioral correlates of ever being tattooed in a representative sample of men and women - PubMed”>Who gets tattoos? Demographic and behavioral correlates of ever being tattooed in a representative sample of men and women - PubMed)</p>
<p>And since the topic of criminals with tattoos came up in this thread, here is another Texas Tech paper:</p>
<p>[Prison</a> tattoos as a reflection of the criminal lifestyle.](<a href=“Prison tattoos as a reflection of the criminal lifestyle - PubMed”>Prison tattoos as a reflection of the criminal lifestyle - PubMed)</p>
<p>Again, it seems that the images tattooed and how the tattoos were acquired mattered.</p>
<p>missypie–your D should avoid Australian males with prison tattoos.</p>
<p>My son’s first teacher, in the two year room at daycare looked about 12 and had piercings, a studded dogcollar around his neck, and a giant tattoo. He was also kind,hardworking and one of the most talented teachers I have ever encountered.</p>
<p>I would never wear my piercings at a day care. Kids like to pull. OUCH.</p>
<p>Missy, perhaps your D’s ideal guy could be found among the future officers of the U.S. military. S1’s equally handsome/smart roommate also has tats as do many of the other young officers he knows. When your D goes off to college, tell her to stalk the ROTC guys :)</p>
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<p>Okay, I’ve found him then. There is a really nice guy in another state that she met through mutual friends and he is HS ROTC (do you call it ROTC in HS?) and wants a military career.</p>