Perception of Tattoo’s among

College Students

Kameron Miller
Department of Health and Human Performance
Johnson C. Smith University
Senior paper presentation
April 6, 2017
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Dr. Lindsey , My course advisor

 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

 managers have taken a defensive posture on this issue. Surveys of human resource
managers and recruiters consistently report that job applicants with visible tattoos are
less likely to be hired (Swanger, 2006; Personnel Today, 2007).
 The link between employee appearance and customer prediction of service
performance is believed to occur through an evaluation of service provider competence
(Willis & Todorov, 2006).
PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
The purpose of this study was to examine the
perceptions of tattoos among college students .
The significance of my study was to discover
factors as to reasoning behind the commonality
of body art with young adults. I demonstrated
why people in the workplace with body art
shouldn’t be viewed differently.
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

 A.) There will be no significant difference between gender and

student-athlete and their perception of Tattoos.
 B.) There will be no significant difference between classification
of the student-athlete perception of Tattoos.
 C.) There will be no significant difference between sport teams
and student-athlete perception of Tattoos.
 SELECTION OF SUBJECTS
 The subjects that were utilized in this study are
undergraduate college students at Johnson
C. Smith University
 The subjects ages in this study will ranged from
18 to 24 years of age.
 SELECTION OF TEST INSTRUMENT
 Data was be collected using a modified version of the Tattoo
Influence Survey (Varno & Travis, 2013).
 This questionnaire was developed in 2013 to discover the mental
perceptions of tattoos between students who have tattoos as
well as don’t have tattoos.
 The survey contains 25 questions in which the first four
questions are the demographics: classification, age, gender, and
race.
SELECTION OF TEST INSTRUMENT CONT

 The next 20 questions contained questions to whether or not if you

have a tattoo, do you know of any co-workers with a tattoo, & are
there any placement concerns.
 The questions responses include select all that apply response and
Vierra format : 1= Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neutral,
4=Agree, 5=Strongly Agree .
 Sample questions on the questionnaire include: Do you currently
have any tattoos?, is your tattoo visible?, Do you oppose other
people having having a tattoo?, Is it okay for employees to have
tattoos exposed within the workplace?, what percentage of college
students do you believe has at least one tattoo?
DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE
 Subjects in this study were chosen from a convenient
sample of undergraduate students from classes in the
Department of Health and Human Performance.
 After the investigator was granted permission to
administer the questionnaires through IRB approval, the
investigator arranged a time at which she can
administer the questionnaire.
DESIGN OF STUDY

 A descriptive survey approach was used.

 A convenient sample were utilized to complete the survey.
 The variable of the study was the following:
 Independent variable: Demographics
 Dependent variable: Perception of tattoos among college
students
 Chi square analysis were used to determine the
difference between demographic categories and the

DATA ANALYSIS
Tattoos and the Influence on college students
questions.
 Demographic items that were utilized for this survey
include classification, gender, age, and race.
 Demographic data from the questionnaire were
analyzed using descriptive statistics.
 The data were analyzed using .05 level of significance.
The SPSS program will be used to perform the
statistical analysis.
 DEMOGRAPHICS TABLES

Table 1 Table 2

Classification N % Age N %

Freshman 6 12 18 3 6

Sophomore 9 18 19 4 8

Junior 17 34 20 10 20

Senior 18 36 21 11 22

N=50 22 11 22

Other 11 22

N=50
DEMOGRAPHIC TABLES CONT.

Table 3 Table 4

Gender N % Ethnicity N %

Male 29 58 Black 49 98

Female 20 40 Other 1 20

N=50 N=50
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS

 Students reported a mean of 2.60 to Question 14, “ I’m concerned with the
placement of my current or future tattoos due to potential employment.”
 Students reported a mean of 2.56 for Question 17, “ I’m concerned with the
placement of my current or future tattoos due to what it will look like when I have
aged.”
 Students reported a mean of 3.86 to Question 20, “ I feel that tattoos are socially
accepted among college students.”
 Students reported a mean of 3.46 to Question 24, “ Employers form negative
judgments about job candidates with tattoos.”
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

 Relationship between Classification and Question 21, “ I feel tattoos are socially
accepted in the work place.”
Class N Mean S.D. F P
Freshman 6 4.50 .84 4.39 .006
Sophomore 9 2.22 .97
Junior 17 2.71 1.36
Senior 18 3.00 1.33
**p<.01
*p<.05
RESEARCH HYPOTHESES CONT.

 Relationship between Gender and Question 12, “ What percentage of college

students do you believe has at least one tattoo?”
Gender 0-19% 20-30% 40-59% 60-70% 80-100% x2 D
Male 1 3 13 11 1 14.45 .006
Female 1 0 2 10 7
**p<.01
*p<.05
CONCLUSION

 A.) There was no significant difference between gender and student-

athlete and their perception of Tattoos.
 B.) There was no significant difference between classification of the
student-athlete perception of Tattoos.
RECOMMENDATIONS

 Increase Sample Size.

 Strengthen this study with random sampling techniques
 Replicate this study using other colleges/universities to further examine the
pereption of tattoos among college students.
 Compare the results of this study to ther institutions such as non-historically
black colleges/universities.