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Cited by 111Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentPersonality Disorders and PsychopathologyResilience and Mental Health

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

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Cummings, Jenna R., Bornovalova, Marina A., Ojanen, Tiina, Hunt, Elizabeth, MacPherson, Laura, Lejuez, Carl·2013·Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
DOI 10.1007/s10802-012-9704-xPMC PMC4158838
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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.

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Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Engagement in maladaptive emotional regulation strategies can predispose and perpetuate psychopathological symptoms, particularly those related to anxiety and depression.

    “the engagement in such maladaptive emotional regulation strategies can predispose and perpetuate psychopathological symptoms, particularly those related to anxiety and depression [8,9,25]”

    From The Factorial Structure, Psychometric Properties and Sensitivity to Change of the Distress Tolerance Scale for Children with Emotional Disorders. (2024) · cites this paper as [25]

    The Discussion’s “Cross-Sectional and Prospective Relationships with INT” section reports an association between low distress tolerance and anxiety symptoms, but not depression symptoms. It found no significant longitudinal relationship with change in either condition and describes the associations as correlates rather than causal antecedents. The paper therefore does not support the claim that this factor predisposes people to, or perpetuates, anxiety and depression symptoms. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • Low distress tolerance is a predictor of more severe anxiety and depressive symptoms in nonclinical samples of children and adolescents.

    “previous studies have shown that low distress tolerance is a predictor of more severe anxiety and depressive symptoms in nonclinical samples of children and adolescents”

    From The Factorial Structure, Psychometric Properties and Sensitivity to Change of the Distress Tolerance Scale for Children with Emotional Disorders. (2024) · cites this paper as [25]

    In this community sample, the Results (Multivariate Growth Models; page unavailable) found that low distress tolerance was associated with anxiety symptoms at Year 1, particularly among girls. The Discussion (Cross-Sectional and Prospective Relationships with INT; page unavailable) says it was not associated with depressive symptoms and did not predict change in either anxiety or depressive symptoms over time. The claim therefore overstates both the symptoms covered and the evidence for prediction. (LLM, conf=0.90)

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  • Lower distress tolerance levels are associated with more severe internalizing symptoms.

    “Lower distress tolerance levels were found to be associated with more severe internalizing symptoms”

    From The Factorial Structure, Psychometric Properties and Sensitivity to Change of the Distress Tolerance Scale for Children with Emotional Disorders. (2024) · cites this paper as [25]

    The Discussion section on cross-sectional and prospective relationships with internalizing symptoms reports that lower distress tolerance was significantly associated with anxiety symptoms, but not major depressive disorder symptoms. The Results section adds that the anxiety association was driven by adolescent girls. Thus, the claim is supported for one component of internalizing symptoms, but is broader than this study’s finding. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • Distress tolerance is viewed as an important transdiagnostic factor underlying psychopathology, including emotional disorders in childhood.

    “Recently, with the emergence of transdiagnostic approaches, distress tolerance is viewed as an important transdiagnostic factor underlying psychopathology; namely, emotional disorders (e.g., [8,69]), including in childhood [25,50].”

    From The Factorial Structure, Psychometric Properties and Sensitivity to Change of the Distress Tolerance Scale for Children with Emotional Disorders. (2024) · cites this paper as [25]

    The paper’s Results (Multivariate Growth Models) link low distress tolerance with anxiety symptoms in early adolescence, particularly among girls, supporting its relevance to youth emotional disorders. But the Discussion (Cross-Sectional and Prospective Relationships with INT) finds no longitudinal relationship with changes in anxiety or depression symptoms and describes the associations as correlates rather than causal antecedents. It therefore does not establish distress tolerance as an underlying factor for emotional disorders generally. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • These results are in line with our hypotheses and with those postulated in previous studies.

    “Globally, these results are in line with our hypotheses and with those postulated in previous studies (e.g., [25,28,29]).”

    From The Factorial Structure, Psychometric Properties and Sensitivity to Change of the Distress Tolerance Scale for Children with Emotional Disorders. (2024) · cites this paper as [25]

    The Results sections report this paper’s findings on distress tolerance and adolescent symptoms, but the citing sentence does not identify what “these results” or its hypotheses were. Without that information, our copy cannot establish whether the citing study’s results align with this paper. (LLM, conf=0.76)

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  1. Muthen LK Muthen BO Mplus User’s Guide. Fifth Edition 1998–2007 Los Angeles, CA Muthen & Muthen

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Authors
Cummings, J. R., Bornovalova, M. A., Ojanen, T., Hunt, E., MacPherson, L., & Lejuez, C.
Affiliations
  • University of South Florida (US)
  • University of Maryland, College Park (US)
Corresponding author
Bornovalova, Marina A.
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2013-01-18
Volume
41
Issue
5
Pages
735-748
ISSN
  • 0091-0627 (ISSN-L)
  • 1573-2835
DOI
10.1007/s10802-012-9704-x
PMC
PMC4158838
OpenAlex
W2028767276
Cited by
111
References
91
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 6
FWCI
8.15
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Digital Commons - University of South Florida (University of South Florida) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Institute on Drug Abuse (P30DA028807, DA18647, R01DA018647, DA028807)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Resilience and Mental Health
Keywords
distress tolerance, developmental trajectories, externalizing problems, internalizing problems, early adolescence, rank-order stability, gender differences, latent growth curve models, adolescent psychopathology
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Child, Child Behavior Disorders, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Frustration, Humans, Individuality, Internal-External Control, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Orientation, Pattern Recognition, Visual, Psychomotor Performance, Psychopathology, Reaction Time, Sex Factors, Stress, Psychological, Resilience, Psychological

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