Distress Tolerance Among Students Referred for Treatment Following Violation of Campus Cannabis Use Policy: Relations to Use, Problems, and Motivation.

Spriggs et al. (2016) asked 103 college students to fill out short surveys. All students had been caught breaking campus cannabis rules and sent for treatment.

The surveys measured distress tolerance, cannabis use days, cannabis problems, and why they used. Distress tolerance means how well someone handles bad feelings without falling apart.

Students who scored low on distress tolerance used cannabis twice as often and had more school, legal, and social problems.

Low distress tolerance led to more problems mostly because these students used cannabis to cope. When they felt upset, they lit up to feel better.

Tyndall et al. (2020) also show that distress-related traits matter. They found three groups of clients based on psychological flexibility. The least flexible group had the highest distress, matching the idea that poor distress skills raise risk.

Plant et al. (2007) looked at experiential avoidance in hair-pulling clients. Like D et al., they found an avoidance trait that links thoughts to worse behavior. Both papers say: teach clients to sit with discomfort instead of escaping it.

Bouck et al. (2016) used the same young-adult survey style but tested anxiety sensitivity with asthma. Both studies link a low tolerance for bad feelings to stronger symptom reports, even across different health issues.

If you screen mandated college students for cannabis use, add a five-minute distress tolerance scale. Students who score low are the ones likely to keep using and rack up more problems. Start interventions that build coping skills like urge surfing or brief acceptance exercises. Target the "I use when I feel bad" motive first; it may shrink both use and fallout faster than drug education alone.