Background <p>Empathy is widely promoted in educational settings, yet its associations with adolescent well-being remain complex, with evidence suggesting both beneficial and adverse outcomes. Drawing on the stress-buffering model, social support may shape how individual vulnerabilities, such as affective empathy, relate to well-being, highlighting its potential moderating role.</p> Objective <p>This study examined the associations between affective empathy and adolescent well-being and tested whether perceived social support moderates these relationships.</p> Methods <p>Participants were 834 Vietnamese adolescents (427 females; M age = 14.63). Self-report measures assessed affective empathy, empathy deficits, perceived stress, emotional and behavioral problems, life satisfaction, and social support. Moderation analyses were conducted using the PROCESS macro.</p> Results <p>Affective empathy was positively associated with life satisfaction but also with higher perceived stress and emotional and behavioral difficulties. Social support significantly moderated these associations: it strengthened the positive association between affective empathy and life satisfaction and attenuated its positive associations with psychological distress. No significant moderation effects were found for empathy deficits.</p> Conclusions <p>Findings highlight the dual role of affective empathy in adolescent well-being and underscore the importance of social support as a contextual factor that shapes when empathy is associated with more adaptive versus maladaptive outcomes. Interventions should consider both fostering empathic sensitivity and strengthening supportive environments.</p>