Reduced specificity of autobiographical memory has been well established in depression, but whether this overgenerality extends to future thinking has not been the focus of a meta-analysis. Following a preregistered protocol, we searched six electronic databases, Google Scholar, and personal libraries and contacted authors in the field for studies matching search terms related to depression, future thinking, and specificity. We reduced an initial 7,332 results to 46 included studies, with 89 effect sizes and 4,813 total participants. Random-effects meta-analytic modeling revealed a small but robust correlation between reduced future specificity and higher levels of depression (r = -.13, p < .001). Of the 11 moderator variables examined, the most striking effects were related to the emotional valence of future thinking (p < .001) and the sex of participants (p = .025). Namely, depression was linked to reduced specificity for positive (but not negative or neutral) future thinking, and the relationship was stronger in samples with a higher proportion of males. This meta-analysis contributes to our understanding of how prospection is altered in depression and dysphoria and, by revealing areas where current evidence is inconclusive, highlights key avenues for future research.

中文翻译：

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抑郁症中未来思维的特殊性：荟萃分析。

自传体记忆的特异性降低已在抑郁症中得到了很好的证实，但是这种过度概括是否能延伸到未来的思维方式并不是荟萃分析的重点。按照预先注册的协议，我们搜索了六个电子数据库，Google学术搜索和个人图书馆，并与该领域的作者联系，进行了与抑郁症，未来思维和特异性相关的搜索词匹配研究。我们将最初的7,332项结果减少至46项纳入研究，其中有89项效应量和4,813名参与者。随机效应的荟萃分析模型显示，降低的未来特异性与较高的抑郁水平之间存在小而稳健的相关性（r = -.13，p <.001）。在审查的11个主持人变量中，最显着的影响与未来思维的情感效价有关（p <。001）和参与者的性别（p = .025）。即，抑郁症与对积极的（但不是消极的或中立的）未来思维的特异性降低有关，并且在男性比例较高的样本中，这种关系更强。这项荟萃分析有助于我们了解抑郁症和烦躁不安中的前景如何发生变化，并且通过揭示当前证据尚无定论的领域，为未来研究提供了重要途径。