Cultural attitudes and beliefs of Jordanian and Philippine military personnel’s served in Liberia towards tattoos

Abstract EN

-Objective: To investigate cultural attitudes towards tattoos among a group of Jordanian and Philippine military personnel’s serving in Liberia.

Methods: Two military contingents from the United Nations military Mission in Liberia, the 1st from the Jordanian military forces and the other from the Philippine military forces, were surveyed by an anonymous self-administrated questionnaire on their perception of health risks related to body art “tattoo” and other explanatory variables in the period from the 1st of November/2005 till the 31st of December/2005.

Demographic information gathered from respondents included: age, gender.

There were 113 Jordanian subjects and 160 Philippine subjects included in this study; response rate was 88.5% (n=100) for the Jordanian military personnel and 74.4% (n=119) for the Philippine military personnel.

The Z-test Method was used to analyze data collected by the questionnaire.

Statistically significant results were those with a P value <0.05.

Results: Among the two military contingents, Philippine military personnel were consistently less knowledgeable of infectious diseases (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome and/or Hepatitis) related to tattooing instruments.

Philippine military personnel have more friends and/or family members who had a tattoo, and more believed that tattoos are equally acceptable and suitable both for men and women.

The size and the extent of a tattoo on the acceptability of a tattoo were higher among the Philippine military personnel, and they thought that tattooing is more acceptable in the military environment.

More Jordanian military personnel thought and/or tried to have a tattoo on their bodies, although they believed that tattoos are forbidden in the Holy Books, and that it is an indication of some sort of disturbance in the personality.

Tattooing was more acceptable for the Jordanian military personnel when it indicated an underlying religious symbol compared to Philippine military personnel.

Conclusion: The differences in the subject’s attitudes may reflect the impact of variable combinations of important factors such as religion, cultural background, society and even the media-effect on each person’s way of thinking and thus his attitude towards tattoos.

A health education program must be organized to increase the general awareness regarding the health risks associated with having a tattoo.