Cognitive Science/ Cognitive Processes
You’re distressing me out: Shifts in distress intolerance based on social context
Ally M. Heiland, B.A.
Student
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Jennifer C. Veilleux, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Distress intolerance is a transdiagnostic risk factor associated with a range of psychopathology and maladaptive behaviors (Leyro, Zvolensky, & Bernstein, 2010; Zvolensky, Vujanovic, Bernstein, & Leyro, 2010). Prior research has demonstrated that distress intolerance is a dynamic construct, changing over time and across context (Veilleux et al., 2018). The present research examines how social context and perceptions of social support influence changes in distress intolerance. Using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) data across two studies, we hypothesized that greater negative affect and lower positive affect would predict greater momentary distress intolerance, and that people would report greater distress intolerance (Studies 1 & 2) when alone and (Study 2) when feeling less supported and more criticized by others, above and beyond affect.
Study 1 (N = 252) combined three EMA datasets assessing students with and without borderline features (n = 99), chronic dieters (n = 92), and smokers (n = 61). Participants were prompted 7 times a day for a week to answer questions about their current affect, momentary distress intolerance, and social context. Using multilevel modeling to account for the nested data structure, we found that, as predicted, when participants reported higher negative affect and lower positive affect, they also experienced greater momentary distress intolerance. Unexpectedly, we also found that participants reported greater distress intolerance when with others versus being alone. We also found that people experienced more problems tolerating distress when the person they were with was a non-close other, as opposed to a close other (friend, romantic partner, family member).
Study 2 (n = 152) expanded on findings from Study 1, where participants completed 5 EMA prompts per day for one week and were also asked about current affect, momentary distress intolerance, and social context (alone or with others). In addition, participants were also asked whether they felt criticized by and supported by others. We found that feeling less supported by others and more criticized by others predicted greater momentary distress intolerance at the within-person level, above and beyond affect.
Findings overall support the idea that distress intolerance fluctuates across contexts, specifically that the presence of a close other, and feeling more cared for and less criticized by others can help to mitigate distress intolerance. Given the salience of distress intolerance as a risk factor for psychopathology, these results have clinical implications. Learning more about how others affect ones ability to tolerate distress is a useful in therapy, and can help to identify and anticipate situations where tolerance might be more difficult.