TOPS (Tips on Parenting Study)

About Us

TOPS is a two phase program designed to implement strategies that will prevent overweight among toddlers. Overweight, defined as a BMI > 95th percentile, in early childhood has reached epidemic proportions with 14% of 2-5 year olds overweight and 26.2% "at risk of overweight," defined as a BMI > 85th percentile.

The study has enrolled 277 mother-child pairs. Toddlers, who were recruited at the WIC clinic and the University of Maryland Pediatrics at the Harbor, are between the ages of 12-30 months at baseline. Information is collected from the toddlers and their primary caregivers at baseline and at follow-up evaluations 6 months and 12 months later.

We hypothesize that altering maternal behavior will have a positive impact on the growth and development of the toddler by preventing behaviors that lead to overweight among children. The parenting intervention will improve parenting skills by offering information on proper approaches to feeding, discipline and educational play. We will compare the growth patterns of toddlers whose mothers were randomized to the maternal and parenting interventions with those in the safety intervention. This study design allows us to examine the mechanisms linking the interventions to improvements in diet, physical activity, and growth.

Tools & Measures

We will measure:

Child

‌

Body Composition
Diet *
Physical activity
Perception of body size*, Temperament*, Feeding Behavior *

* = mother report

Mother

‌

Body Composition
Physical Activity
Diet
Self-efficacy, Perception of body size, Depression, Eating attitudes, Parenting Satisfaction

Mother-Child

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Parent-child mealtime interactions using videotaped meal observations

Project Coordinator

MAUREEN M. BLACK, PhD
Principal Investigator
University of Maryland, School of Medicine
mblack@umaryland.edu

Co-Investigators

LAURA CAULFIELD, PhD
Co-Investigator
Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health

JOEL GITTLESOHN, PhD
Co-Investigator
Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health

KRISTEN HURLEY, PhD
Co-Investigator
University of Maryland, School of Medicine
khurley@peds.umaryland.edu

ERIN HAGER, PhD
Co-Investigator
University of Maryland, School of Medicine
ehager@peds.umaryland.edu

Coordinators and Research Staff at UMB School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics

Falguni Patel, BA
Project Coordinator
fpatel@peds.umaryland.edu

Raquel Arbaiza, MA
Data Collection Coordinator
rarbaiza@peds.unaryalnd.edu

Krystal Hodge, MPH
Health Educator
khodge@peds.umaryland.edu

Emma Rixmann
Health Educator
erixmann@peds.umaryland.edu

Jackie Hurtt
Data Collector
jhurtt@peds.umaryland.edu

Amrita Balram
Data Collector
abalram@peds.umaryland.edu

Video Coding

Margo Candelaria, PhD
Faculty/Video Coding Manager
mcandelaria@peds.umaryland.edu

Kosha Parekh, BS
Video Coder
kparekh@peds.umaryland.edu

Emma Rixmann
Video Coder
erixmann@peds.umaryland.edu

Kathleen Davis, MS
Video Coder
kdavis@peds.umaryland.edu

Rubi Chung, BS
Video Coder
rchung@peds.umaryland.edu

Bethany Preston, BS
Video Coder
bpreston@peds.umaryland.edu

Publications

Hager EH, McGill AM, Black MM. Development of a Toddler Silhouette Scale. Obesity. 2010; 18; 397-401.

McGill A, Hager ER, Black MM. Development and Validation of a Toddler Silhouette Scale. Poster at The Obesity Society Meeting (2007).

Hager ER, Merry B, Wadler L, Black MM. Novel Approaches to Assessing Physical Activity Among Toddlers. Oral Presentation at the International Conference on Diet and Physical Activity Methodology (2009).

More Publications+

Hurley KM & Black MM. Low maternal iron intake is characterized by maternal depression and iron-poor diets among offspring. Oral Presentation at the BIRCWH Directors and Scholars meeting (2010) and Oral Presentation at the 7th Annual Interdisciplinary Women's Health Research Symposium (2010). Abstract published in the Journal of Women's Health.

Hager ER, Hurley KM, Latta L, Candelaria M, Kim, E, Wang Y, Black M. Factors Associated with Low-Income Mothers' Accuracy and Satisfaction with their Toddler's Body Size. Poster at The Obesity Society Meeting (2010).

Latta LW, Hager ER, Kim E, Caulfield LE, Black MM. Measurements and Predictors of Physical Activity Among Toddlers. Poster at the American Society for Nutrition at Experimental Biology (2011).

Hager ER, Hurley KM, Latta L, Caulfield L, Black MM. Using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to evaluate dietary patterns of low-income adult women in real-time. Oral Presentation at the American Society for Nutrition at Experimental Biology (2011).

Pepper MR, Hurley KM, Caulfield LE, Latta L, Hager ER, Candelaria M, Wang Y, Black MM. Validity of the Toddler Feeding Style Questionnaire. Oral Presentation at the American Society for Nutrition at Ezperimental Biology (2011).