Just seen this, apologies. The dampness usually comes from the middle and upper class. Those people often move away from their family home town and set up somewhere else. We don’t have church communities in quite the same way you guys do, so a lot of parents can get isolated and clingy with their children. This seems to happen more with mums and boys (particularly if dad leaves) than with dads and boys or dads and girls. Mums and girls often morph into besties - this doesn’t lead to the same sort of dampness in girls.

It’s interesting. Sometimes the dampness also comes from boarding school experiences and bullying plus a low emotional involvement from absent parents during the holidays. That creates either insecure sociopaths who need to be liked (hello Boris Johnson) or damp squibs who marry other damp squibs until the whole thing begins anew.