*3.3. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y)*

The STAI measures state and trait anxiety [13] (Italian Version: 14). The questionnaire includes 40 items. Twenty items refer to state anxiety (STAI-S) and evaluate how participants feel about anxiety "right now, at this moment"; 20 items refer to trait anxiety (STAI-T) and assess how people "generally feel" about anxiety. The items are rated on a four-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (not at all) to 4 (very much so). In both the State and Trait anxiety scales, higher scores indicate greater anxiety levels. A cut-off point of 55 was used to define higher state anxiety, according to Kvaal et al. [14]. Although this study was interested in assessing state anxiety, trait anxiety was also measured to check whether the anxious state could be explained by a high anxious trait of the Italian population. The internal consistency of STAI in the sample of this study was adequate (α = 0.60).
