Teenagers and Tattoos

In the article “Tattoos & Teenagers: An Art Educator's Response”, the author talks about how this generation of teenagers is filled with kids who decide to express their independence and individuality by getting body art. More then half of the adolescent population that have tattoos are girls and although the age to get a tattoo is 18, many kids even get them at the age of 14-16. Kids see body art as a way to communicate their feelings and personal identities, but adults automatically relate to gangs, drugs, sex and violence. As an adult, many times people regret their decision that they made about getting a tattoo when they were younger especially certain words or designs. There are also many health issues when getting a tattoo, there are chances of getting HIV, and hepatitis which is why teenagers need to be careful about where and who they get them from. I know that I got my tattoo to express my pride in my religion, not just a mistake that I would regret in the later years. And even though there are serious health issues involved, I went to a legitimate parlor that was safe and sterile.

Scholarly articles are excellent to use for research because of the amount of statistics and analysis serve as outstanding resources that authors use to come up with conclusions.