In a study of the psychosocial characteristics of the coronary prone personality, a semi-structured questionnaire and Type A/B, anxiety and depression scales were sent to residents of Rolleston registered on the Rakaia electoral district roll. Amongst the 256 respondents who replied there were no significant differences between proportions of Type A and B individuals found in various age, sex, smoking, drinking, CHD family history, exercise and recent stress categories. However, Type A men (but not women) who had experienced a stressful crisis during the preceding 12 months obtained higher anxiety scores than nonstressed men. Recently stressed Type B women (but not men) obtained higher anxiety scores than nonstressed women. Likewise, recently stressed women (but not men) obtained higher depression scores than nonstressed women. There was also some evidence of less frequent alcohol consumption in respondents from families in which a parent or sibling had suffered from CHD.