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Emotion reactivity refers to the activation, intensity and duration of emotional responses to internal or external stimuli. It can be differentiated from emotion regulation since the former is the very first response to an emotional trigger, and the latter can be defined as a tool for maintaining one's arousal in a window of tolerance. Since, to date, there are no Italian self‐report measures able to evaluate individuals' emotional reactivity, this study aimed to contribute to the Italian validation of the Perth Emotional Reactivity Scale–Short Form (PERS‐S). The PERS‐S is an 18‐item self‐report measure answered on a 5‐point Likert scale that generates six subscale scores and two composite scores, with higher scores indicating higher levels of reactivity. Data from 768 individuals showed that the PERS‐S had good to excellent goodness of fit. The internal consistency was high, with an overall reliability coefficient (Cronbach's α) of.87 and.86 for the negative and positive general scales, respectively. The PERS‐S also demonstrated appropriate convergent validity, showing significant correlations with conceptually related measures, and acceptable divergent validity, showing minimal correlations with unrelated constructs. Finally, we evaluated the Test–Retest Reliability by administering the PERS‐S to the same sample twice, with a 2‐week interval. The significant correlations between the two PERS‐S administrations suggest temporal stability. The Italian version of the PERS‐S will enrich the repertoire of self‐report measures for investigating the development and risk factors of mental health disorders and may have practical applications in clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Since the first lockdown of Spring 2020, the COVID‐19 contagion waves pervasively disrupted the sleep and mental health of the worldwide population. Notwithstanding the largest vaccination campaign in human history, the pandemic has continued to impact the everyday life of the general population for 2 years now. The present study provides the first evidence of the longitudinal trajectories of sleep disturbances and mental health throughout the pandemic in Italy, also describing the differential time course of age groups, genders and chronotypes. A total of 1062 Italians participated in a three‐time‐point longitudinal study covering two critical stages of the emergency (the first lockdown in April 2020 and the second partial lockdown in December 2020) and providing a long‐term overview 2 years after the pandemic outbreak (April 2022). We administered validated questionnaires to evaluate sleep quality/habits, insomnia, depression, stress and anxiety symptoms. Analyses showed a gradual improvement in sleep disturbances, depression and anxiety. Conversely, sleep duration progressively decreased, particularly in evening‐type and younger people. Participants reported substantial earlier bedtime and get‐up time. Stress levels increased during December 2020 and then stabilised. This effect was stronger in the population groups apparently more resilient during the first lockdown (older people, men and morning‐types). Our results describe a promising scenario 2 years after the pandemic onset. However, the improvements were relatively small, the perceived stress increased, and the re‐establishment of pre‐existing social/working dynamics led to general sleep curtailment. Further long‐term monitoring is required to claim the end of the COVID‐19 emergency on Italians' sleep and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]