14 DAY TRIAL // Over recent years, some studies have been conducted in more countries, in an attempt to make more sense of the correlations that exist between body piercing behavior and psychopathological symptoms in the people doing this. These investigations have produced mixed results, and so a new research was conducted into the same thing. Its details have just been published in the latest issue of the respected scientific journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, AlphaGalileo reports.
Body piercing (BP) is a habit defined as the “insertion of jewelery and other objects into artificially made openings in body parts.” Body modifications is a different term, which refers both to BP and tattoos. “The aim of our study was to investigate this relationship via a systematic review of the literature. The Authors’ search (Pubmed, Sciencedirect and Psycinfo) yielded 23 studies. The reported prevalence of BP ranged from 6.8% to 14% in the general population and from 4.3% to 51% among adolescents and young adults. Females were more likely to display BPs than males,” the authors write.
“BP prevalence also seemed to demonstrate an age effect, with the highest rates between the ages of 14 and 24. BP being associated with dermatological and infectious complications, it could be argued that undergoing BP is itself a high-risk behavior,” they add. The behavior was additionally associated with a high risk of alcohol, tobacco and drug exposure, the review of existing literature found. The team reveals that people with BP also tended to be more vested in high-risk intercourse, and that the connection was strongest for young adults. Two of the reviewed studies looked at the correlation between BP and food disorders, but the reviewers found that no clear conclusions had been reached.
“Contrasting with 1 report, 3 other studies found that sensation-seeking was positively associated with BM and BP. Apart from a study on BM, most research examining the relationship between BP and self-esteem yielded negative results. Self-esteem does not seem to mediate the relationship between BP and high-risk behavior either. Finally, BP is significantly associated with high negative emotionality and low positive emotionality in young females, while a weak association was described with body dissatisfaction,” the authors conclude.