Alcohol Consumption, Drugs Addiction, Tattoos and Piercings are Associated with Risky Behavior

This topic has been observing since decades and people of different cultural, ethnicities, communities and regions use these types of behaviors. These behaviors are considered risky, if they deviate from norms of a particular region, culture and community. There are some quotations of Nicolas Gueguen, who observed these type of behaviors very keenly in his past working. “Individuals with body piercings or tattoos are more likely to engage in risky behavior than non-pierced or non tattooed people,” said Nicolas Gueguen, He listed sex without protection, fighting, theft, and alcohol consumption as several examples of risky behavior.

Ahmer Jameel He has been associating with Willing Ways Karachi as a counselor since 3 months. He has written two more articles on different topics. This one is his third article on association of addiction and other risky behaviors.

Editor: Wakeel Murad

Tattoos and body piercings have become very popular. Many people now consider them fashion trend, but people acquire tattoos and piercings for different reasons. Prior research has shown that individuals who do so are also more likely to engage in risky behaviors that include substance and alcohol use.

The first study was conducted in France to find association between alcohol and tattooing and body piercing. Research further elaborated, “You need to look at the ages of the groups being examined. Two groups participated in this research. One was 13 to 18 years and second group was between 18 to 25 years old.

Both groups tend to favor tattooing and piercing already. People in both groups were high-risk people in terms of their drinking and other behaviors simply because of their ages and their age-related desires to experiment.

Gueguen conducted his first-of-its-kind survey on four different Saturday nights, He concluded that pierced and/or tattooed individuals consumed more alcohol in bars on a Saturday night than people in the same bars who were non pierced and non tattooed, This is the first time that a research has revealed a relation among tattoos, piercings, and alcohol consumption.

He suggested that educators, parents and physicians consider tattoos and piercings as potential “markers” of drinking, using them to begin a conversation about alcohol consumption as well as other risky behaviors.