Ward et al. BMC Public Health 2011, 11:431 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/431 innovative intervention content, the Parenting SOS pro- gram is theory-driven based on Self-Determination and Social Cognitive theories. Because of the pioneering nature of this study, we include numerous measures of the social, environmen- tal, and behavioral components of family life in anticipa- tion to increase our understanding of the factors that moderate and mediate healthy weight parenting beha- viors and, ultimately, child body fat development. Acknowledgements This paper is part of a projected funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01 1HL091093) and is conducted with support from the Nutrition Obesity Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (NIH DK056350). The work was done at the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, a member of the Prevention Research Centers Program of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (#U48-DP000059). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the CDC. In addition to these sponsors, we would like to acknowledge the work of Laura G. McKee, PhD, who contributed to the development of the program during her post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Additionally, we would like to recognize the efforts of Josephine Emunah, MPH, who assisted with development of the intervention program and serves as the sole interventionist for our project. Author details 1Department of Nutrition in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. 2Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. 3Department of Biostatistics in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. 4Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. Authors’ contributions DW is the principal investigator; she led the conception and design of the study, development of the intervention, selection of primary and secondary measures, and development of the manuscript. AV provides project management and coordination; she has contributed to the development of the intervention, selection of measures, and assisted with the development of the initial manuscript draft and incorporated revisions from co- investigators. KB provides biostatistical oversight for the study; he has contributed to the study design, calculation of power, development of randomization strategies, and has critically reviewed and edited the current paper. MC contributed to the development of the intervention and behavior change strategies, and reviewed/approved the manuscript. DJ contributed to the development of the intervention, identification of measures related to general parenting style and practices, and participated in the writing and editing of the current manuscript. AP provided guidance on data analysis strategies particularly plans for meditational analysis, assistance in selection of appropriate measures, and critically reviewed and edited the current paper. JS contributed to the development of the study design, selection of measures and randomization strategies, provided guidance on the scope of the manuscript, and has critically reviewed and edited the current paper. All authors have reviewed and approved the current version of the manuscript. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Received: 27 April 2011 Accepted: 5 June 2011 Published: 5 June 2011 References 1. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, Lamb MM, Flegal KM: Prevalence of high body mass index in US children and adolescents, 2007-2008. JAMA 2010, 303(3):242-249. Page 8 of 9 2. Monteiro PO, Victora CG: Rapid growth in infancy and childhood and obesity in later life–a systematic review. Obes Rev 2005, 6(2):143-154. 3. Reilly JJ, Kelly J: Long-term impact of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence on morbidity and premature mortality in adulthood: systematic review. Int J Obes (Lond) . 4. Reilly JJ, Methven E, McDowell ZC, Hacking B, Alexander D, Stewart L, Kelnar CJ: Health consequences of obesity. Arch Dis Child 2003, 88(9):748-752. 5. Maloney AE: Pediatric obesity: a review for the child psychiatrist. Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America 19(2):353-370, x. 6. Cummings EM, Davies PT, Campbell SB: Developmental psychopathology and family process: Theory, research, and clinical implications. Guilford Press; 2000. 7. Bronfenbrenner U: Ecology of the family as a context for human development: Research perspectives. Developmental Psychology 1986, 22(6):723-742. 8. Salzinger S, Feldman R, Stockhammer T, Hood J: An ecological framework for understanding risk for exposure to neighborhoodviolence and the effects of exposure on children and adolescents. Aggress Violent Behav 2002, 7(423-51). 9. Baughcum AE, Chamberlin LA, Deeks CM, Powers SW, Whitaker RC: Maternal perceptions of overweight preschool children. Pediatrics 2000, 106(6):1380-1386. 10. Carnell S, Edwards C, Croker H, Boniface D, Wardle J: Parental perceptions of overweight in 3-5 y olds. Int J Obes (Lond) 2005, 29(4):353-355. 11. Eckstein KC, Mikhail LM, Ariza AJ, Thomson JS, Millard SC, Binns HJ: Parents’ perceptions of their child’s weight and health. Pediatrics 2006, 117(3):681-690. 12. Huang JS, Becerra K, Oda T, Walker E, Xu R, Donohue M, Chen I, Curbelo V, Breslow A: Parental ability to discriminate the weight status of children: results of a survey. Pediatrics 2007, 120(1):e112-119. 13. Zehle K, Wen LM, Orr N, Rissel C: “It’s not an issue at the moment": a qualitative study of mothers about childhood obesity. Mcn 2007, 32(1):36-41. 14. Hesketh KD, Campbell KJ: Interventions to prevent obesity in 0-5 year olds: an updated systematic review of the literature. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2010, 18(Suppl 1):S27-35. 15. Darling N, Steinberg L: Parenting style as context: An integrative model. Child Development 1993, 113:487-496. 16. Ryan RM, Deci EL: Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist 2000, 55(1):68-78. 17. Dezenberg CV, Nagy TR, Gower BA, Johnson R, Goran MI: Predicting body composition from anthropometry in pre-adolescent children. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders 1999, 23(3):253-259. 18. Conway JM, Ingwersen LA, Vinyard BT, Moshfegh AJ: Effectiveness of the US Department of Agriculture 5-step multiple-pass method in assessing food intake in obese and nonobese women. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2003, 77(5):1171-1178. 19. Jonnalagadda SS, Mitchell DC, Smiciklas-Wright H, Meaker KB, Van Heel N, Karmally W, Ershow AG, Kris-Etherton PM: Accuracy of energy intake data estimated by a multiple-pass, 24-hour dietary recall technique. Journal of the American Dietetic Association 2000, 100(3):303-308, quiz 309-311. 20. Mitchell D, Shacklock F: Computers in nutrition: the Minnesota nutrition database. Nutrition Today 1991, 26:52-53. 21. Troiano R, Berrigan D: Using accelerometry: Methods employed in NHANES. Active Living Research Coronado, CA; 2006. 22. Evenson KR, Catellier DJ, Gill K, Ondrak KS, McMurray RG: Calibration of Two Objective Measures of Physical Activity for Children. J Sports Sci . 23. Jackson DM, Reilly JJ, Kelly LA, Montgomery C, Grant S, Paton JY: Objectively measured physical activity in a representative sample of 3- to 4-year-old children. Obes Res 2003, 11(3):420-425. 24. Pate RR, Pfeiffer KA, Trost SG, Ziegler P, Dowda M: Physical activity among children attending preschools. Pediatrics 2004, 114(5):1258-1263. 25. Reilly JJ, Coyle J, Kelly L, Burke G, Grant S, Paton JY: An objective method for measurement of sedentary behavior in 3- to 4-year olds. Obes Res 2003, 11(10):1155-1158. 26. Clerkin SM, Marks DJ, Policaro KL, Halperin JM: Psychometric properties of the Alabama parenting questionnaire-preschool revision. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 2007, 36(1):19-28.