*2.3. Procedure*

Participants were recruited in their school: Only those who were authorized by parents and teachers participated in the study; no incentive was given for participation. Participants completed the "paper and pencil" questionnaire in their class during lessons' breaks under the supervision of at least one researcher, who was also available if participants asked for clarifications.

The study is divided into two sections: The first one, preparatory to the latter, aimed at verifying the factorial structure of the GAMS-it and compared it with the original version; the second section was aimed at investigating its discriminant validity by correlating the six factors with psychopathological factors like those assessed by CES-D (depressive factors) and STAI (trait anxiety) and verifying if GAMS-it factors can predict the level of depression and trait anxiety.

The whole study protocol was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Internal Review Board of the University of L'Aquila (#16/2016).
