Memorial tattoos: Advancing continuing bonds theory

Abstract

A memorial tattoo is a tattoo that honors a person who has died. We aimed to understand how memorial tattoos could be an expression of a bereaved person's continuing relationship with the deceased person that the tattoo memorializes. We interviewed 41 people and used qualitative description grounded in a symbolic interactionist framework to analyze the transcripts. This research expands on continuing bonds theory by showing that memorial tattoos are an expression of the bond with the deceased as well as a way to communicate with others about their ongoing connection and to challenge stigma.