158 BRITISH SOCIAL ATTITUDES

first three questions shown in Table 7.1. The scale is scored from three to 15,
with low scores indicating a positive attitude to emotions talk and high scores
more negative orientations. We then split respondents into three equally sized
groups: ‘most talkative’, ‘intermediate’ and ‘least talkative’.
The results are shown in Table 7.2, which summarises how attitudes to
emotions talk vary between different groups. The first and most obvious thing
to note is the stark difference between men and women. Women are much more
likely than men to belong to the ‘most talkative’ group; nearly four in ten fall
into this category, almost double the proportion found among men. While this is
hardly surprising in terms of popular stereotypes, it does highlight a dimension
that is curiously absent from much theorising about the emergence of
therapeutic culture. We return to how one might understand these gender
differences below.
Table 7.2 General attitudes towards emotions talk, by gender, age, education, well-
being and experience of serious mental health problems

Most talkative Intermediate Least talkative Base
Gender
944
Male % 22 35 44
1158
Female % 39 31 30
Age group

142 18–24 % 35 39 26
732 25–44 % 33 32
499 45–59 % 32 32 36
706
60+ % 22 30 48
Highest educational


qualification
393 Degree % 38 29 33
1709 No degree % 21 33 46
Well-being scale

573 Highest % 36 33 31
529 Intermediate % 32 30 38
588 Lowest % 25 32 43
Experience of serious

mental health difficulties
in last five years
221 Yes % 42 28 30
1869 No % 30 33 37

If there is an emerging therapeutic culture, one would expect to see an age-
related gradient, with younger people more likely than older people to exhibit
positive attitudes towards talking about one’s emotions. This is partly the case;
people aged under 60 are much more likely than those aged 60 or over to be in
the ‘most talkative’ group. Beyond this, however, there are few other age
differences. And what is not evident in the table is the way that age and gender
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