**2. Materials and Methods**

### *2.1. Participants*

A total of 98 healthy participants (46 males, 52 females) took part in this study. All participants were between the ages of 18 and 70 (M = 39.3; SD = 16.6); had an adequate understanding of the Italian language and were living in Italy at the time of the lockdown; were subject to lockdown social restriction rules; and possessed the technical ability to access the online platform to complete questionnaires. Our sample was extracted from a previous database of people who had participated in a personality and PES study prior to the pandemic. We therefore excluded people who had reported psychiatric diagnoses; those who reported taking medication for psychiatric reasons; and individuals who were working as healthcare professionals during the pandemic. Healthcare professionals were in fact the only professionals excluded from the lockdown and the rule imposed by the Italian government through the use of the slogan, "stay at home".
