TY - JOUR
T1 - Characteristics of episodic future thinking in anxiety
T2 - A systematic review and meta-analysis
AU - Du, Jessica
AU - Hallford, David
AU - Busby Grant, Janie
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/7
Y1 - 2022/7
N2 - Deficits in episodic future thinking (EFT) characteristics such as detail/vividness, specificity and the use of mental imagery are associated with psychopathology. However, whether these characteristics are associated with anxiety is not well understood. This article reports a systematic review and meta-analysis of research examining associations between anxiety and these EFT characteristics. Peer-reviewed studies that are published in the English language and contain at least one measure of anxiety and one measure of EFT characteristics were screened for inclusion in APAPsychINFO, CINAHL Plus and MEDLINE. Twenty-nine studies met the inclusion criteria. Results indicated that anxiety was not significantly correlated with detail/vividness overall. However, this was qualified by a moderating effect of cue valence. This finding is consistent with the Attentional Control and Contrast Avoidance Theories of anxiety, whereby higher anxiety is related to high detail/vividness in future thinking in the context of negatively-valenced cues, and conversely lower detail/vividness for positively-valenced cues. Anxiety was not significantly associated with specificity or the use of mental imagery. While heterogeneity and the low number of studies examining particular associations limited the findings, the results provide insight into the current state of the field and have both theoretical and clinical implications.
AB - Deficits in episodic future thinking (EFT) characteristics such as detail/vividness, specificity and the use of mental imagery are associated with psychopathology. However, whether these characteristics are associated with anxiety is not well understood. This article reports a systematic review and meta-analysis of research examining associations between anxiety and these EFT characteristics. Peer-reviewed studies that are published in the English language and contain at least one measure of anxiety and one measure of EFT characteristics were screened for inclusion in APAPsychINFO, CINAHL Plus and MEDLINE. Twenty-nine studies met the inclusion criteria. Results indicated that anxiety was not significantly correlated with detail/vividness overall. However, this was qualified by a moderating effect of cue valence. This finding is consistent with the Attentional Control and Contrast Avoidance Theories of anxiety, whereby higher anxiety is related to high detail/vividness in future thinking in the context of negatively-valenced cues, and conversely lower detail/vividness for positively-valenced cues. Anxiety was not significantly associated with specificity or the use of mental imagery. While heterogeneity and the low number of studies examining particular associations limited the findings, the results provide insight into the current state of the field and have both theoretical and clinical implications.
KW - Anxiety
KW - Attentional control theory
KW - Cognitive avoidance theory
KW - Contrast avoidance theory
KW - Detail
KW - Episodic future thinking
KW - Future thinking specificity
KW - Mental imagery
KW - Vividness
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131115663&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cpr.2022.102162
DO - 10.1016/j.cpr.2022.102162
M3 - Article
SN - 0272-7358
VL - 95
SP - 1
EP - 16
JO - Clinical Psychology Review
JF - Clinical Psychology Review
M1 - 102162
ER -