Maternal and adolescent distress tolerance: the moderating role of gender.

Abstract

Distress tolerance is defined behaviorally as the ability to maintain goal-directed behavior while experiencing physical or psychological distress. Distress tolerance is closely related to emotion regulation and is a clinically relevant construct contributing to psychopathology across adults and adolescents, yet limited research has examined the development of this construct. A number of studies suggest the importance of parenting in the emergence of emotion regulation capacities in childhood and adolescence. In the current study, we utilize a behavioral measure of distress tolerance to examine whether maternal distress tolerance is related to adolescent distress tolerance, and whether this association differs as a function of gender. We also examine the influence of family emotional climate, namely maternal response to adolescent distress and adolescent attachment. Results indicate a significant maternal distress tolerance by adolescent gender interaction, such that maternal distress tolerance predicts adolescent distress tolerance in daughters, but not sons. The family emotional climate variables were unrelated to maternal or adolescent distress tolerance. Taken together, data indicate that maternal distress tolerance is significantly related to the distress tolerance of adolescent daughters and indicates the potential utility of addressing maternal distress tolerance in clinical work with adolescents.