The mediating role of psychological flexibility in the relationship between stress and psychological well-being in adults

The aim of this study is to examine the mediating role of psychological flexibility in the relationship between perceived stress and psychological well-being in adults and to determine the differentiation of psychological well-being according to some demographic variables. Relational survey model was used in the study. The research group consisted of 635 adults, 376 (59.2%) women and 279 (40.8%) men, working in any occupational group in private or public workplaces in Turkey. In the study, perceived stress was determined as the independent variable, psychological flexibility as the mediating variable and psychological well-being as the dependent variable. In the T-Test and ANOVA analyses of differentiation in the study, gender, marital status, work experience, type of institution and income level variables were determined as independent variables, and psychological well-being variable was determined as dependent variable. The data collection tools used in the study are Personal Information Form, Perceived Stress Scale, Psychological Resilience Scale and Psychological Well-Being Scale. In this study, the Cronbach Alpha coefficients of the scales were found to be .85, .81 and .82, respectively. Data were analysed using SPSS v26 software. PROCES Macro plug-in v4.1 was used in mediation analysis. According to the research findings, it was concluded that psychological flexibility has a mediating role between perceived stress and psychological well-being. Stress and psychological flexibility together were found to explain approximately 35% of the variation in psychological well-being. According to another finding, it was determined that the gender of adults and the type of institution they work in do not differ significantly according to psychological well-being. It was found that the psychological well-being of individuals with experience in business life, married individuals and individuals with high income was significantly higher than the others. As a result of this research; psychological resilience in adults plays a protective role between perceived stress and psychological well-being. The research findings were discussed in line with the existing literature and suggestions were made for future studies.