**3. Results**

The main results of the data analysis are reported in this section. A more complete descriptive analysis of each variable, including the composition of high perceived stress versus low perceived stress samples, is reported in the Supplementary Materials.

#### *3.1. Perceived Stress in Response to the COVID-19 Emergency*

The average PSS-10 score of the entire sample was 18.81 (*SD* = 6.25). Analyzing the responses of males and females separately (note that participants who reported a gender of "other" were excluded from this analysis due to a lack of normative data), males obtained an average score of 16.71 (*SD* = 6.91) and females obtained an average score of 19.44 (*SD* = 6.79). To determine whether the sample mean statistically differed from that of the Italian normative population (males: average = 15.2, *SD* = 6.1; females: average = 16.3, *SD* = 5.5) [53], a one-sample *t*-test was run separately for each gender. Statistically significant results emerged for both males (*t*(479) = 4.79, *p* < 0.001, *d* = 0.22, 95% CI for Cohen's *d* (0.13, 0.31)) and females (*t*(1554) = 18.21, *p* < 0.001, *d* = 0.46, 95% CI for Cohen's *d* (0.41, 0.510)). The PSS-10 items showing the greatest increase in participants with high perceived stress (1.5 *SD* above the population mean) were those related to loss of control over one's life (*M* = 3.09, *SD* = 0.80) and frequently feeling nervous or stressed (*M* = 3.51, *SD* = 0.60) (see Supplementary Materials for an item-by-item analysis).
