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 own 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 short form of the PERS (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.

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease often associated with non-atopic comorbidities. Recently, a severity-dependent relationship between AD with sleep and mental health diseases has been proposed, but few studies investigated this topic through validated questionnaires. Therefore, the present study aimed to: (i) assess the impact of AD on sleep and psychological disorders using validated instruments and (ii) estimate the association of AD severity with sleep disorders and psychological symptoms distinguishing between clinical-oriented and patient-oriented measures. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, case-control study, recruiting 57 adult AD patients matched for age and sex with 57 healthy adults. To investigate the differences in sleep quality, insomnia, depression, and anxiety between the two groups, we performed independent samples t-tests. Moreover, we conducted several univariable linear regression analyses to examine the relationship between objective/subjective severity of AD and sleep quality, insomnia, and psychological symptoms. Results: AD patients presented poorer sleep quality and more severe symptoms of insomnia and depression than healthy adults. Objective and subjective AD severity were similarly associated with worse sleep quality, anxiety, and self-perceived stress. However, subjective AD severity was more strongly associated with insomnia and depressive symptoms than clinical-oriented AD severity. Conclusions: The study demonstrated poor sleep quality and high levels of insomnia, depression, and perceived stress in AD patients, with an aggravated psychological status for adults with more severe disease. We suggest implementing a multidisciplinary approach to AD management and treatment that considers objective and subjective measures of disease severity.