Abstract Background Little is known about the extent to which transplant recipients face psychologic distress with the receipt of a transplanted organ. The purpose of this study was to investigate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and psychologic distress in 105 adults who had undergone kidney transplantation (KT). Methods HRQoL was measured with the use of the Korean version of Medical Outcome Study Short Form 36 version 2, and psychologic distress with the use of the Transplant Effects Questionnaire (TEQ). Clinical and demographic data were collected from questionnaires. The data were collected from August 2014 to November 2014 at 2 medical centers in Korea. Results Of the 105 patients, 53.3% were male and the overall mean age was 46.99 years. The mean score of each of the TEQ subscales ranged from 2.45 to 4.62. In the subscales of HRQoL, the mean score of physical component summary (PCS) was 50.23, and the mean score of mental component summary (MCS) was 46.19. MCS was negatively correlated with worry ( P  = .001) and guilt ( P  = .037) and positively correlated with adherence ( P  = .006) in the TEQ subscales, whereas there was no significant correlation between PCS and the TEQ subscales. Conclusions The study indicates that mental HRQoL is correlated with psychologic distress. Therefore, to increase the HRQoL, continuous attention is needed in kidney transplant recipients who experience psychologic distress and adherence problem. In addition, further empirical studies should be conducted to explain the mechanisms underlying this relationship.