Pierced kids looking for trouble, study finds

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent

Tue May 7, 5:01 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - So your teen-ager comes home with her eyebrow pierced -- should you be worried, or glad that she didn't do something worse?

A report released at a conference this week suggests a parent should be very worried because high school students with body piercings tend also to have smoked, used alcohol, had sex, skipped school and gotten into fights.

The study, by Dr. Timothy Roberts of the University of Rochester in New York, shows clear links between body piercings -- other than the ears -- and risky behavior.

"It's just like hairstyle, cosmetics, jewelry -- these are things an adolescent uses to project an image of him or herself to the world," Roberts said in a telephone interview. "They can give you a lot of clues about how an adolescent sees himself."

And while body piercing is becoming more mainstream, in a teen it still signals rebellion.

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