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Blue Hair and the Blues: Dying Your Hair Unnatural Colours is Associated with Depression

Authors:
  • Ulster Institute for Social Research

Abstract and Figures

A number of lines of evidence, such as studies of religious converts and members of conspicuous subcultures, have found a relationship between holding and expressing a strong counter-cultural identity and mental instability. Here we test whether dying your hair an unnatural colour - something which conspicuously expresses non-conformity - is related to mental instability, using a large dataset of online daters (OKCupid dataset, about n=14k used in this study). We find the expected pattern, which was moderate in size (p = -033 to -0.23, depending on controls). This pattern persisted even when controls for age, race, sex, sexual orientation, body type, intelligence, polyamory, vegetarianism, and political beliefs were included.
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β
Table 1
Questions Relating to Mental Health in OKCupid
Item
Text
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
Option 4
N
Indicator of
q50
Have you ever
seen a
therapist?
Yes (59.8%)
No (40.2%)
9507
Mental
health
q1552
Do you get
depressed
much?
Almost
never, I'm
happy!
(32.7%)
Sometimes,
when it's a
bad day
(63.2%)
Yeah, despair
is my life
(4.0%)
9958
Mental
health
q6021
How would
you describe
your
emotional
diversity?
I get
extremely
happy but
rarely
depressed
(32.7%)
I get
extremely
depressed
and I'm
rarely happy
(4.6%)
I don't feel
much of either
(16.7%)
I feel both
often (45.9%)
4367
Mental
health
q4018
Are you happy
with your life?
Yes (92.5%)
No (7.5%)
53625
Mental
health
q1287
Have you
experienced
mental
illness?
Yes -
severely
(5.9%)
Yes - low
grade
(21.4%)
No (58.5%)
I'm not sure
(14.2%)
17945
Mental
health
q48278
Would you
consider
dating
someone who
is already
involved in an
open or
polyamorous
relationship?
Yes. (42.0%)
No. (58.0%)
15242
Polyamory
q33107
Would you
consider being
part of a
committed
polyamorous
relationship
(i.e., three or
more people
but no sex
outside the
group)?
Yes, I like
that type of
polygamy.
(6.2%)
I could be
convinced by
the right
people
(41.5%)
I am
committed to
total
monogamy
(48.3%)
I have open
relationships
only (4.1%)
12788
Polyamory
q37772
If you had to
choose one
for the rest of
your life,
which would
you pick?
Monogamy
(75.2%)
An open
relationship
(12.6%)
Polyamory
(9.4%)
Playing the
field (2.8%)
12646
Polyamory
q513
Have you ever
dyed your hair
a real crazy,
unnatural
colour?
Yes (41.0%)
No (59.0%)
18045
Self-
presentation
q128
Do you have
any tattoos?
I have 1 or
more BIG
tattoos
(15.5%)
I have 1 or
more LITTLE
tattoos
(20.7%)
I have no
tattoos
(63.8%)
40450
Self-
presentation
q179268
Are you either
vegetarian or
vegan?
Yes (8.7%)
No (91.3%)
54202
Covariate
q212813
Which best
describes your
political
beliefs?
Liberal /
Left-wing
(44.4%)
Centrist
(17.4%)
Conservative /
Right-wing
(6.9%)
Other (31.3%)
45107
Covariate
Table 2
Main regression results
Simple
Add basic
Add race
Add body
Final
0.10 (0.017***)
-1.09 (0.270***)
-1.21 (0.276***)
-1.19 (0.277***)
-1.43 (0.357***)
-0.33 (0.026***)
-0.27 (0.026***)
-0.26 (0.027***)
-0.25 (0.027***)
-0.23 (0.033***)
-0.31 (0.047***)
-0.19 (0.047***)
-0.17 (0.050***)
-0.23 (0.050***)
-0.19 (0.060**)
(0, base)
(0, base)
(0, base)
(0, base)
(0, base)
-0.10 (0.031**)
-0.07 (0.032)
-0.08 (0.032)
-0.07 (0.032)
-0.05 (0.040)
-0.07 (0.035)
-0.05 (0.035)
-0.05 (0.036)
-0.05 (0.036)
-0.01 (0.044)
(nonlinear)
(nonlinear)
(nonlinear)
(nonlinear)
(0, base)
(0, base)
(0, base)
(0, base)
-0.76 (0.085***)
-0.75 (0.088***)
-0.68 (0.088***)
-0.47 (0.102***)
-0.15 (0.058*)
-0.19 (0.058**)
-0.14 (0.058)
-0.12 (0.071)
-0.52 (0.104***)
-0.54 (0.108***)
-0.47 (0.109***)
-0.41 (0.133**)
-0.58 (0.058***)
-0.57 (0.060***)
-0.41 (0.062***)
-0.23 (0.075**)
0.10 (0.030**)
0.09 (0.031*)
0.18 (0.036***)
0.17 (0.045***)
(0, base)
0.13 (0.042**)
0.11 (0.042*)
0.15 (0.051**)
0.41 (0.066***)
0.34 (0.067***)
0.24 (0.085*)
0.46 (0.064***)
0.47 (0.064***)
0.52 (0.083***)
0.34 (0.067***)
0.27 (0.067***)
0.31 (0.082***)
0.09 (0.080)
0.08 (0.080)
0.11 (0.095)
0.35 (0.137)
0.35 (0.139)
0.51 (0.163**)
0.01 (0.215)
0.01 (0.214)
-0.14 (0.252)
0.21 (0.250)
0.26 (0.250)
0.17 (0.350)
0.35 (0.273)
0.35 (0.280)
0.43 (0.340)
(0, base)
(0, base)
-0.23 (0.040***)
-0.26 (0.048***)
0.47 (0.044***)
0.47 (0.055***)
-0.15 (0.054*)
-0.18 (0.065*)
0.30 (0.040***)
0.32 (0.050***)
-0.28 (0.062***)
-0.32 (0.075***)
-0.06 (0.179)
-0.07 (0.212)
-0.63 (0.056***)
-0.59 (0.067***)
-0.41 (0.243)
-0.34 (0.281)
-0.36 (0.085***)
-0.39 (0.105***)
-0.10 (0.053)
-0.12 (0.064)
-0.66 (0.149***)
-0.52 (0.172**)
0.05 (0.015**)
-0.14 (0.016***)
(0, base)
0.22 (0.042***)
0.54 (0.066***)
0.12 (0.036**)
0.019
0.057
0.064
0.099
0.116
13905
13439
12753
12306
8710
Figure 1
Visual summary of model coefficients
NB: Error bars show 95% confidence intervals.
β
β
β
β
β β
β
Table 3
Individual mental health indicators predicted by unnatural hair coloration.
Predictor
Coefficient
R2
AUC
p
seen therapist
0.60
0.03
0.57
< .01
much depression
0.55
0.01
0.53
< .01
emotional diversity
0.40
0.02
0.56
< .01
happy with life
0.03
0.00
0.50
0.52
exp mental illness
1.05
0.04
0.59
< .01
mental health score
-0.17
0.02
0.57
< .01
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