Comparison of risk-taking behaviour and frequency of piercing and tattooing among university students

Objective: to assess the frequency of piercing and tattooing among university students and to determine the extent of risk-taking behaviour in this age group. method: the descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at a university in istanbul,turkey,from december 2009 to february 2010. data was obtained from students through a questionnaire. spss 20 was used for statistical analysis. result: of the 1303 subjects,838(64.3%) were girls. the overall mean age of the sample was 21.7±1.9 years. a total of 107 (8.2%) had piercings and 56(4.3%) had tattoos. it was seen that young people who had piercings and tattoos were significantly more likely (p<0.05) to exhibit certain types of risk behaviour including smoking,alcohol,substance abuse,extreme sports,carrying switchblades/knives,unprotected sexuality and having multiple sex partners. conclusion: in the face of the steadily increasing fads of piercing and tattooing among the youth,families,teachers and health professionals need to be constantly on the alert. © 2015,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.