The Relationship between Resilience and Distress Tolerance in College Students: The Mediator Role of Cognitive Flexibility and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediator role of cognitive flexibility and difficulties in emotion regulation in the relationship between resilience and distress tolerance amongst college students. The sample of the study involved 1114 students (771 females, 343 males) from various universities in Turkey. The mean age of the sample was 20.65 (Sd=2.77). The Resilience Scale, Distress Tolerance Scale, Cognitive Flexibility Scale, and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) had been used to collect data. In this study, a Serial Multiple Mediation Model was used, as proposed by Hayes. The findings showed that people with a higher level of distress tolerance possess higher degrees of cognitive flexibility and that cognitively more flexible individuals experience less difficulty in emotion regulation, and thus, lower levels of difficulty in emotion regulation were associated with an increase in resilience. Furthermore, the model in its entirety had proven to be statistically significant, accounting for 42% of the total variance. © 2019 The Author(s).