The Tennessee Self Concept Scale (TSCS) was administered to 109 students newly enrolled at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Consistent with earlier reserch literature, test results indicated that the deaf students had lower levels of self esteem than did the normative hearing population. Subsequent interviews with 30 members of the study sample revealed, however, that many of the deaf students had interpreted the test stimuli peculiarly, thus affecting their scores on the TSCS in a negative manner. It was suggested that questionnaire type measures of affective variables (or psychological well being) which fail to take into consideration the linguistic and experiential deficits of the deaf respondent may create false impressions of psychological maladjustment. A sample copy of the TSCS is appended. (Author/SB)