When the study was initiated in 1984, five interdisciplinary studies were conducted. Study 1 followed 1,500 hypertensive patients who had ambulatory blood pressures recorded over the last ten years, to determine whether ambulatory blood pressure improved the prediction of morbid events relative to clinic blood pressures. Study 2 evaluated factors contributing to white coat hypertension, and whether it could be treated behaviorally. Study 3 compared the reactivity to beta-adrenergic stimulation and to behavioral tasks in normals and patients with hypertension or depression. Study 4 tested the Job Strain Model in the laboratory by investigating the interactive effects on blood pressure of varying levels of workload or task difficulty and decision latitude or degree of personal control during a challenging behavioral task. Generalization of this measure of reactivity was assessed by comparison with ambulatory blood pressure recordings. Study 5, in a cohort study of 400 subjects, determined whether individuals in high-strain jobs showed greater elevations of blood pressure over five years than those in low-strain jobs.