A cultural psychiatric study on tattoos of young Korean males

Kim, Jong Ju

Abstract

In 2, 178 tattooed male conscripts in ages of 19-24 years, the most frequent tattoo was a heart mark or a mark of heart and arrow. The Chinese characters which mean "one mind," eagles, dragons, some of 12 zodiacal animals, flowers, and flowers and butterflies or birds were also frequent. The ten Korean symbols of long life and symbols which have been traditionally believed as having evil-repelling powers, for example, blue dragon or white tiger were also found. The frequency of images were different between the provinces with different historical and cultural backgrounds. Data was obtained through interviews with 781 tattooed males. Analysis of the data revealed the following. The prevalence of tattooing was 5.6%. The most prevailing motivation to having tattoos was a contemporary group craze or fashion. Of the 781 tattooed men, 62% had tattoos on their forearms, 34.2% had self-injured scars on their bodies, and 18.6% had criminal convictions. The results of MMPI showed high scores in items of psychopathic deviate and schizophrenia. This suggests that those with tattoos were impulsive, hostile and were prone to delinquent behavior. These results indicate that selection of the image to be tattooed is heavily influenced by inner needs and the cultural background of individuals.