Associations between tattooed body surface area and maladaptive personality traits in a community sample

Evidence for personality differences between tattooed and non-tattooed adults is mixed. Assessing dimensional maladaptive traits may help clarify these associations. A community sample of adults in Cyprus (N = 280; M = 28.0, SD = 9.5; range 18 to 64) completed the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Brief Form Adult (PID-5-BF) and a Tattoo Coverage Tool estimating the percentage of body surface area tattooed (tBSA). Analyses included t-tests, correlations, and hierarchical regressions controlling for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. More than half (58.6%) of the participants reported having at least one tattoo. Compared with non-tattooed participants, tattooed participants scored higher on Disinhibition (d = 0.47, p <.01) and on the PID-5-BF total (d = 0.29, p =.02). tBSA correlated with Antagonism (r =.26, p <.01), Disinhibition (r =.21, p <.01), and the PID-5-BF total (r =.16, p =.01). Tattoo count showed weaker associations (Disinhibition r =.14, p <.05; Psychoticism r =.12, p <.05). In regressions, Antagonism alone explained 6.8% of the variance in tBSA (p <.001) and Disinhibition alone explained 4.6% (p <.001). In the joint model, Antagonism and Disinhibition explained 7.7% of the variance in tBSA (p <.001), with Antagonism emerging as a significant predictor (p <.01). Men reported higher tBSA and higher Antagonism, Detachment, Disinhibition, Psychoticism, and PID-5-BF total scores; women scored higher on Negative Affectivity. Tattoo presence was associated with higher Disinhibition and a higher overall maladaptive trait load, while Antagonism best tracked tBSA. tBSA was more sensitive than counts for detecting trait associations. Findings support AMPD-aligned assessment and the use of tBSA in community research on tattooing.