Distress Tolerance as a Risk Factor for Specific Internet-Use Disorders

Abstract Existing research on distress tolerance has focused on non-technological addictions and general Internet addiction; however, none explored its association with specific Internet-use addictions. This study aimed to investigate whether distress tolerance could be a risk factor for three specific Internet-use disorders: Internet gaming disorder (IGD), problematic social media use (PSMU), and problematic pornography use (PPU) guided by the interaction of person-affect-cognition-execution (I-PACE) model. As emotional regulation and distress tolerance are related but distinct constructs, emotional regulation was controlled in the current study. It was hypothesized lower distress tolerance would predict higher severity in IGD (H1), PSMU (H2), and PPU (H3) after controlling for demographics (i.e., age and gender) and emotional regulation. Upon ethics approval from the university’s human research ethics committee, 151 participants (62.9% females; mean age = 27.35, SD = 6.41) were recruited. Participants completed scales on distress tolerance, emotional regulation, IGD, PSMU, and PPU. Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted thrice for each outcome variable, with demographics entered in Model 1, emotional regulation subscales entered in Model 2, and distress tolerance subscales entered in Model 3. Results revealed lower distress tolerance significantly predicted higher severity in IGD above and beyond demographics and emotional regulation, but not for PSMU and PPU. This suggests distress tolerance may be a more relevant risk factor for IGD than PPU and PSMU. Limitations pertain to lack of comprehensiveness measuring psychological distress. Longitudinal studies are recommended for future research.