An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study of Momentary Emotion Intolerance: The Role of Trait Distress Tolerance, Emotional Intensity, and Arousal

BackgroundDistress intolerance is a transdiagnostic risk factor featured in many psychotherapy models. Prior research has focused almost exclusively on between-person, interindividual differences in trait distress tolerance, with limited research on within-person intraindividual fluctuations in distress intolerance using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). The purpose of the current study was to test the unique contributions of, and interaction between, momentary negative emotion intensity and trait distress tolerance in predicting momentary emotion intolerance. A secondary aim was to explore differences in these associations between high and low arousal negative emotions.MethodsAmerican university students (N = 50) completed a baseline questionnaire and EMA 6x daily for up to 8 weeks. Multilevel modeling with momentary emotion intolerance as the outcome examined main and interaction effects between momentary negative emotion intensity and trait distress tolerance. Separate models were conducted for low arousal, high arousal, and overall negative affect.ResultsMain effects were found for both predictors; however, the interaction effect was not significant in any model. The pattern of results did not differ substantively across models with different negative affect variables.ConclusionsOur findings bolster prior research demonstrating that distress intolerance varies substantially within-persons and correlates with more intense concurrent negative affect. While individuals lower in trait distress tolerance report greater momentary emotion intolerance on average, they do not appear to be rating equivalently intense emotions as more intolerable compared to individuals high in trait distress tolerance. Moreover, these relationships appear to be highly consistent across high and low arousal negative emotions.