People with tattoos share this surprising trait

Who knew?

Whether you sport a graphic and detailed sleeve, or tiny tattoos are more your thing, it's no secret that many tattoos usually have some sort of important meaning behind them, with the A-list often sharing the meaning behind their own personal celebrity tattoos on social media.

But new research shows that women who have a lot of tattoos share a surprising personality trait: According to a recent study of American college students, people with more tattoos tend to have a higher level of self esteem.

During the study, which will be published in a future issue of The Social Science Journal, researchers examined 2,395 students from six different universities in America, and asked the participants about the number of tattoos they have, as well as questions about depression, self esteem, and whether they had ever thought about attempting suicide.

In the female participants who were surveyed, it was found that levels of self esteem went up as the number of tattoos they had increased. Interestingly, a higher number of tattoos also correlated with depression and suicide attempts.

What's more, researchers found that the rate of suicide attempts in women with four or more tattoos was four times higher than women who didn't have any tattoos at all.

In light of these findings, the authors of the study believe that tattoos could be used as a way for women to heal from any emotional wounds. 'Just as breast cancer survivors and abuse victims [may] acquire tattoos and piercings to restore physical losses, we think women in our study may be trying to restore emotional losses with more tattoos', they write.

Of course, while some women who get tattoos may have absolutely no history of depression or suicide attempts at all, it's clear that in many cases, there is a very strong emotional link to having a lot of inkings.