*2.1. Participants*

Participants were recruited through online advertisements on websites and social media (Facebook and WhatsApp).

Inclusion criteria were: (a) being a parent; (b) being at least 18 years old, and (c) having a child between 4 and 17 years of age.

The collected data refer to a sample of 308 parents, 278 mothers (90.3%), and 30 fathers (9.7%). Most parents were aged between 36 and 45 years (52.9%) and were of Italian nationality (98.7%). The parents were mostly married (84.4%); an equal number were either separated with joint custody (and who had the child at home during the lockdown) (7.1%) or cohabiting (7.5%). Only 1% of parents were single.

A degree was the most popular qualification (39.6%), followed by a high school diploma (30.5%). A minority of participants had a Ph.D. or a specialization (15.6%), a professional diploma (7.8%), a primary school certificate, or a middle school diploma (6.4%).

A total of 35.1% of the participants were government employees, while 19.2% were freelancers, 14.3% were teachers, and 10.7% were housewives. Other professions were practiced, but in very low percentages. Moreover, most of these occupations were carried out in smart working modes (45.5%) during the first lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, 20.8% of the sample declared that they continued to work at the workplace, while a small number of parents said they did not work due to a suspension of their activities (12.7%), because they were temporary layoffs (3.9%), or because they lost their jobs (3.2%).

The children of these parents were mostly boys (57.8%) while 42.2% were girls. The children taken into consideration were mostly first-born (67.9%), followed by the secondborn (25.3%), and finally by the third-born and beyond (6.8%). The first-born considered by the parents for the study were mostly between the ages of 11 and 13 (41.6%), followed by children between the ages of 7 and 10 (30.7%) and, finally, children between the ages of 4 and 6 years (27.7%); neither parent involved in the study had sons between the ages of 14 and 17 years old. Furthermore, most of the 11–13-year-old and 7–10-year-old first born children had at least one sibling.

Concerning the developmental conditions of the children, 270 were children exhibiting "typical" patterns of development and 38 were children exhibiting atypical patterns of development, which included learning disabilities, ADHD, genetic syndrome, intellectual disabilities, sensorial disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, or chronic or severe pathologies. Neither parent was infected with COVID-19 during the research.
