Distress Tolerance as a Moderator of Affective Forecasting Effects

Previous research has used real-time methods like ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine affective forecasting (predictions made regarding experience of affect and how this influences decision making, level of functioning, etc.), but has not specifically examined predictors of what determines how strongly daily forecasts of a day are associated with negative emotion experienced later in the day. The aim of this study was to examine how experience of distress tolerance would moderate daily-level affective forecasting effects. Our hypothesis stated that having poorer distress tolerance would mean that worse predictions of how good a day would be, would be more strongly associated with negative emotion later in the day. Analyses in a large sample of undergraduates (N = 411 drawn from a sample total sample of N = 675) supported this hypothesis. Future research should look to further explore distress tolerance as a moderator of affective forecasting, specifically within larger community samples.