Distress Tolerance and Emotional Disorder Symptoms among Racial/ethnic Minorities

There is a wealth of research indicating that members of minority groups (e.g. according to race/ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation) are at risk of experiencing greater negative psychological outcomes than their majority counterparts. It is important to determine the underpinnings of these negative experiences in order to understand their etiology, as well as to determine the most effective course of treatment. Distress tolerance (DT) has been a focus of recent clinical research as it has been associated with a number of psychological disorders, including anxiety, depression, and substance misuse. Although it has been found to act as a buffer against symptoms of psychopathology in white majority samples, DT has not been fully examined among racial/ethnic minority populations. The aim of the current study was to fill this void by determining whether DT protects individuals from racial/ethnic minority groups against emotional disorder symptomology in the same way it does for individuals from the white majority. Results from this study did not indicate a significant difference in DT between racial groups. Additionally, we did not find a significant interaction between DT and group membership to predict emotional disorder symptoms