(PS8-D85) Positive Coping Strategies as Predictors of Distress Endurance

Experiential avoidance is the unwillingness to endure distressing thoughts, feelings, emotions, physical sensations, and events. In contrast, distress endurance is the willingness to tolerate  distressing situations, emotions, feelings, and thoughts. Research has found that distress endurance is negatively correlated with avoidant coping and negative affect (Allen, 2021). Additionally, research has demonstrated that other emotion regulation strategies, such as reappraisal, active coping, social support, and emotional support, decrease psychopathological symptoms such as depression and anxiety symptoms. As increased distress endurance and positive coping strategies are both associated with lower negative psychopathological symptoms, the current research study examined whether active coping, cognitive reappraisal, social support, and emotional support predicted distress endurance. The study hypothesized that active coping, reappraisal, use of social support, and use of emotional support would predict distress tolerance. A sample of undergraduate participants (N=194, Mage= 19.64, 86.6% female, 74% White, 12.9% Hispanic or Latinx) completed the Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (MEAQ), the COPE Inventory (COPE), and a demographic survey, including age, gender, and mental health diagnoses. The Distress Endurance subscale of the MEAQ was used to capture distress endurance, and the Positive Reinterpretation and Growth, Active Coping, Use of Instrumental Social Support, and Use of Emotional Support subscales were used to capture their respective coping strategies. A hierarchical regression was conducted to determine if Positive Reinterpretation and Growth, Active Coping, Use of Instrumental Social Support, and Use of Emotional Social Support predicted and explained an amount of variance in Distress Endurance after accounting for gender, depression diagnoses, and anxiety diagnoses. The overall model was significant F(7,186)=10.336, p< .001, R2=.280, accounting for 28% of the variance. Positive Reinterpretation and Growth  (β=.246, p=.007) and Active Coping (β=.340, p< .001) were significant positive predictors of Distress Endurance. Use of Emotional Support (β=-.211, p=.041) was a significant negative predictor of Distress Endurance. Contrary to the study hypothesis, Use of Instrumental Social Support was not a significant predictor of Distress Endurance. These findings suggest that cognitive reappraisal and active coping may predict whether emerging adults will effectively endure distressing situations. Social support was not a significant predictor for distress endurance, a notable finding in our sample of young adults. Young adults may often have many people identified as friends but still feel a lack of support. While social support is important, other emotional coping strategies may take precedence in the management of distress. This study highlights the importance of incorporating positive coping skills into interventions to foster distress endurance.