The study uses the Pitt County, (NC) cohort, a community sample of African Americans (N=1784, 66 percent female, 80 percent response rate) who were between 25-50 years of age at baseline in 1988. Normotensives in the baseline sample were re-examined in 1993 (N=1195, 66 percent female, 85 percent response rate). In addition to measuring blood pressure, extensive data on psychosocial, behavioral, and anthropometric characteristics were obtained at both times. The study re-examines the original cohort in 2001; the anticipated sample size is 1142 individuals (717 women and 425 men). Starting from age 20, respondents' reported exposure to three domains of socioenvironmental stressors will be assessed: (1) adverse socioeconomic conditions; (2) low levels of social integration; and (3) racial discrimination. Taken individually, and then collectively, the greater the cumulative life course exposure to these stressors, the greater the risk for adult hypertension is expected to be. The primary analyses will focus on the relationship between pre-1988 exposures and 1988 blood pressure status (retrospective analyses), and the relationship between pre-1988 exposures and changes in blood pressure status between 1988 and 2001(prospective analyses).