Time Doesn’t Change Everything: The Longitudinal Course of Distress Tolerance and its Relationship with Externalizing and Internalizing Symptoms During Early Adolescence

Abstract

Although distress tolerance is an emerging construct of empirical interest, we know little about its temporal change, developmental trajectory, and prospective relationships with maladaptive behaviors. The current study examined the developmental trajectory (mean- and individual-level change, and rank-order stability) of distress tolerance in an adolescent sample of boys and girls (N=277) followed over a four-year period. Next we examined if distress tolerance influenced change in Externalizing (EXT) and Internalizing (INT) symptoms, and if EXT and INT symptoms in turn influenced change in distress tolerance. Finally, we examined if any of these trends differed by gender. Results indicated that distress tolerance is temporally stable, with little mean- or individual-level change. Latent growth models reported that level of distress tolerance is cross-sectionally associated with both EXT and INT symptoms, yet longitudinally, only associated with EXT symptoms. These results suggest that distress tolerance should be a focus of research on etiology and intervention.

Frustration Tolerance in Youth With ADHD

“…In contrast, ODD was not related to frustration tolerance (i.e., quit status) in our sample. It should be noted that the distress tolerance task used by Cummings et al (2013) was different from the one used in this study, which may have contributed to differential results. In addition, study design (i.e., Cummings et al being a longitudinal study vs. this cross-sectional study) may have contributed to different findings.…”

Changes in Distress Intolerance and Treatment Outcome in a Partial Hospital Setting

“…Specifically, due to this methodological approach, we cannot rule out that both changes in DI and symptoms were attributable to maturation or regression to the mean. However, unlike symptoms of mood and anxiety disorders that may improve over time without intervention, DI is hypothesized to be a stable, trait-like variable requiring targeted treatment to modify (Cummings et al, 2013; Leyro et al, 2010), which mitigates this concern to some degree. Given that assessments were conducted at pre- and post-treatment, it is not possible to definitively establish temporal precedence of changes in DI and other symptoms (e.g., whether changes in DI preceded changes in other symptoms).…”

“…Although much of the research on DI has focused on substance use disorders, recent research has highlighted the relevance of this risk factor in depression and anxiety (e.g., Cummings et al, 2013; Daughters et al, 2009). DI is associated with greater severity of symptoms of internalizing disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (Marshall-Berenz et al, 2010; Vujanovic, Bonn-Miller, Potter, Marshall, & Zvolensky, 2011), social phobia (Macatee & Cougle, 2013), panic disorder (Marshall et al, 2008; Schmidt et al, 2006), and depression (Magidson et al, 2013).…”

“…Although DI is relatively stable and trait-like (e.g., Cummings et al, 2013), it is also hypothesized to be modifiable with intervention. Indeed, treatments targeting DI have been associated with positive outcomes for substance use disorders (Bornovalova, Gratz, Daughters, Hunt, & Lejuez, 2012; Brown et al, in press).…”

Early Adolescent Symptoms of Social Phobia Prospectively Predict Alcohol Use

“…This study used data from a larger, longitudinal study of behavioral, environmental, and genetic mechanisms of HIV-related risk behaviors in youth. Details of the larger longitudinal study have been reported elsewhere (e.g., Cummings et al, 2013;MacPherson et al, 2010). In brief, participants were a sample of youth and their parents recruited in the greater metropolitan Washington, D.C., area via media outreach and mailings to area schools, libraries, and Boys and Girls Clubs.…”