What Happens When Rich People Marry Poor People -- Science of Us:
It seemed like the role of emotion was one of the biggest and most
persistent cleavages you found in how partners from different classes
operated.The white-collar partners tended to have much more what
I call the “managerial style.” They manage their emotions, so before
you want to express something, you think about it first, you figure out
what you really feel, you think about how to express it in a way that
will make the other person most comfortable, and then you kind of
quietly and very calmly state how you feel and make sure there’s a good
rationale behind it. Whereas the people who grew up in blue-collar
families express emotion in more of what I call a “laissez-faire” style,
kind of an unregulated way: If you feel it, you express it, and it
might not always be expressed in the nicest way or the calmest way, but
it’s basically more honest.