A survey was conducted of 2,017 Black men and women in Pitt County, North Carolina. Study variables included age, sex, marital status, socioeconomic status (SES), John Henryism (behavioral predisposition to cope actively with psychosocial environmental stressors), social support, anger-coping style, social desirability, dietary variables including sodium, potassium, calcium and alcohol, blood pressure, height, weight, and pregnancy. In the cross-sectional study, blood pressure was the continuous outcome as measured by linear regression. Three years after baseline all normotensive persons were re-examined in order to measure changes in blood pressure from baseline after exposure to selected psychosocial and dietary factors. The study provided an estimate of the degree to which John Henryism, social support, anger-coping and dietary factors modify the association between SES and blood pressure in Blacks.