Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Women ’s perceived social support: Associations with post partum weight retention, health 
behaviors and depressive sympt oms 
 
Version: 1 Date: 03 Oct 2019  
 
Reviewer: Michael T. Weaver   
Reviewer's report:  
Well written manuscript with good attention to addressing reviewer comments.  
 
A discussion of examination of statistical model assumptions (linearity, outliers/influential 
obser vations), and collinearity, what problems (if any) that examination identified, and 
remediation is needed.  
 
Information about model goodness of fit (e.g. Hosmer -Lemeshow), performance (e.g. c statistic), 
relative fit (e.g. BIC) of models would provide additional information required to assess model 
performance.  
 
I did not completely follow rationale behind analys is of PPWR classes - the categorization totally 
leaves out subjects with PPWR between 2 and less than 5 kg; the PPWR outcome really is 
ordered category (ordinal) with 3 levels, and should be analyzed as such, using a multinomial 
type approach.  
 
While my gue ss is that, given potential numbers involved, it would not make much difference, a 
comment about effect of not using information about smoking postpartum would be indicated, as 
that may have also influenced PPWR.  
 
Specific  
 
p. 5, lines 107 -109: the sentence "For each 108 of the two sources of support, the 5 items were 
summed each a 0 -15 scale, where a higher 109 score indicated stronger support." does not make 
sense (specifically the "…each a 0 -15 scale…").  
p. 7, lines 169 -170: I did not understand the statem ent "Of note, BMI and gestational weight gain 
were initially included separately but estimates were almost identical, so results are presented all 
together." until I looked at table 3 - I think the sentence could just be deleted, as they are listed in 
the description of covariates used in Model 4…  
 
One thing mentioned by previous reviewers was the dietary survey - I am not convinced (though 
empirical evidence from other studies could change my mind) that participants would be able to 
provide valid, reliable information about their diet intake across the past 6 months since the baby 
was born. It seems that variability be a potentially substantive limitation for the nutrition 
variables…  
 
Figure 1 is redundant of information in Table 3, and is not needed.  
 
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
No 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your commen ts to the authors.   
 
Yes 
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Unable to assess  
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manus cript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please speci fy what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statisti cs 
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the qua lity of language in the manuscript:  
 
Acceptable  
 
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salar y from an 
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financial ly from the publication of this 
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3. Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents  relating to the content of th e 
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4. Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that 
holds or has  applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript?  
 
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