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.

情景式未来思维 (EFT) 特征（例如细节/生动性、特异性和心理意象的使用）的缺陷与精神病理学有关。然而，这些特征是否与焦虑有关尚不清楚。本文报告系统评价以及研究焦虑与这些 EFT 特征之间关联的荟萃分析。以英语发表并包含至少一项焦虑测量和一项 EFT 特征测量的同行评审研究被筛选以纳入 APAPsychINFO、CINAHL Plus 和 MEDLINE。29 项研究符合纳入标准。结果表明，焦虑与整体细节/生动性没有显着相关性。然而，这受到提示价的调节作用的限制。这一发现与焦虑的注意力控制和对比回避理论一致，即在负价线索的背景下，更高的焦虑与未来思维的高细节/生动性有关，相反，正价线索的细节/生动性较低。焦虑与特异性或心理意象的使用没有显着相关性。虽然异质性和检查特定关联的研究数量较少限制了研究结果，但结果提供了对该领域当前状态的洞察，并具有理论和临床意义。