Temporal Precedence of Distress Tolerance in Predicting Anxiety and Depression: A Daily Diary Approach During Mindfulness-Based Intervention.
Behavior therapy May 1, 2026 Yanjuan Li, Amy Hu, Yiran Ding et al.
During a mindfulness-based intervention, daily distress tolerance predicted next-day anxiety and, in later weeks, next-day depression, but the reverse relationships were not significant. Eighty-three adults with high emotional distress completed daily diaries before, during, and after the intervention. Distress tolerance, anxiety, and depression all improved one week after the intervention. In the first three weeks no time-lagged effects appeared; in the last four weeks, higher distress tolerance on one day predicted lower anxiety and depression the next day. The findings support distress tolerance as a temporal precursor to emotional distress, particularly when interventions aim to enhance it.