Collective stressful events and individual future orientation: a systematic review

Future orientation is a core human feature shaping people’s behavior and development. It is associated with mental health and well-being, especially under stressful situations. With increasing emphasis on the impact of several collective stressful events (e.g., terrorist attacks, wars, pandemics, natural disasters, climate change, and economic crisis) on people’s mental health, research has focused on individual future orientation over the last two decades. However, literature on the relationship between collective stressful events and individual future orientation is limited and inconclusive. The present study aimed to conduct a systematic review to (1) analyze the relationship between collective stressful events and individual future orientation and to (2) synthesize the evidence for factors that may impact this association (i.e., the type of event, the study design, and the operationalization of the future orientation’s construct). Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic review was conducted on Scopus, Web of Science, Psycinfo and Pubmed databases up to October 2024; 1,551 articles were identified and 17 were selected. Most analyses (n = 17, 70.83%) found a negative relationship between the collective stressful events and individual future orientation, while a small percentage (n = 6, 25%) found no significant relationship. Notably, the only analysis that specifically examined the relationship between climate change and a generalized pattern of future time perspective found a positive relationship. Furthermore, the study design and the operationalization of the future orientation construct appear to affect the relationship between collective stressful events and individual future orientation.