The conversion of stress to distress has been a major assumption in the study of psychological and emotional health. To identify the effects of self-esteem, personal control, and social support in the stress process, hearing-impaired adults (N=386) completed questionnaires including questions about health and well-being, social support, perceptions about the effects of hearing loss on daily life, and demographic information. Clinical records were used to establish the degree of hearing impairment. Hearing impairment was conceptualized as a stressful life event leading to chronic life strains. Factor analyses showed that each of the five major scales (social support, psychological distress, self esteem, personal control, and experienced handicap) loaded on separate factors. Despite the common perceptual nature of the variables, they may warrant treatment, both conceptually and analytically, as distinct dimensions. The addition of the social support variables reduced the effect of strain on self-esteem, resulting in a diminished role for strain in the stress-distress process. The low correlation between stress-distress may be the result of the physiological factor (hearing impairments) as a stressful event. (MCF)