The Mediating Effect of Perceived Social Support and the Moderating Effect of Psychological Well-Being in the Relationship Between Adult Attachment and Interpersonal Problems

Objectives The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of adult attachment (anxious attachment and avoidant attachment) on interpersonal problems, and to examine the mediating effect of perceived social support and the moderating effect of psychological well-being in this relationship. Through this, the study aims to empirically identify the roles of social support and psychological well-being in the process through which adult attachment affects interpersonal problems. Methods Participants included men and women aged 20 to 40 living in Seoul, South Korea. Data were collected through an online Google survey for 30 days, from September 1 to October 1, 2023. Of the 523 responses received, 500 valid responses were included in the final analysis after excluding inconsistent or inattentive responses, such as those with uniform or random answering patterns. Data were analyzed using SPSS 25.0 and PROCESS macro 4.1 to perform frequency analysis, reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis, mediation analysis, and moderation analysis. Results First, anxious attachment, avoidant attachment, perceived social support, and psychological well-being were found to significantly influence interpersonal problems in adults. Second, perceived social support mediated the relationships between both anxious attachment and avoidant attachment with interpersonal problems. Third, psychological well-being did not moderate the relationship between anxious attachment and interpersonal problems but did moderate the relationship between avoidant attachment and interpersonal problems. Conclusions This study highlights that anxious attachment and avoidant attachment significantly impact interpersonal problems in adults, with perceived social support and psychological well-being mitigating these effects. Specifically, perceived social support mediated the relationship between insecure attachment styles and interpersonal problems, while psychological well-being moderated the negative effects of avoidant attachment on interpersonal problems. These findings suggest that enhancing psychological well-being may be particularly beneficial for individuals with avoidant attachment tendencies.