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Objectification theory has linked self-objectification to negative emotional experiences and disordered eating behavior in cultures that sexually objectify the female body. This link has not been empirically tested in a clinical sample of women with eating disorders. In the present effort, 209 women in residential treatment for eating disorders completed self-report measures of self-objectification, body shame, media influence, and drive for thinness on admission to treatment. Results demonstrated that the internalization of appearance ideals from the media predicted self-objectification, whereas using the media as an informational source about appearance and feeling pressured to conform to media ideals did not. Selfobjectification partially mediated the relationship between internalized appearance ideals and drive for thinness; internalized appearance ideals continued to be an independent predictor of variance. In accordance with objectification theory, body shame partially mediated the relationship between self-objectification and drive for thinness in women with eating disorders; self-objectification continued to be an independent predictor of variance. These results illustrate the importance of understanding and targeting the experience of self-objectification in women with eating disorders or women at risk for eating disorders.KEY WORDS: self-objectification; eating disorders; internalization; sociocultural.Sexual objectification occurs whenever a person is viewed, evaluated, reduced to, and/or treated by others as merely a body, and has been identified as especially harmful to women (Bartky, 1990;Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997;Kaschak, 1992). Objectification theory considers self-objectification to be an adaptive strategy for girls and women who live in a culture that sexually objectifies the female body (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). The term selfobjectification refers to the psychological process by which women internalize observers' objectifying perspectives on their bodies and become chronic selfmonitors of their own physical appearance. This form of self-perception allows women to anticipate, and thus to exert some control over, how others treat them.By coming to view their own bodies through this objectified lens, women engage in a kind of psychologically distancing from their physical bodies, which in turn contributes to negative attitudes toward and experiences with their bodies. This experience of self-objectification has been theoretically and empirically linked to a variety of negative consequences in nonclinical samples of adult and adolescent women, including increased opportunities for experiencing body shame, anxiety, negative attitudes toward menstruation, a disrupted flow of consciousness, diminished awareness of internal bodily states, depression, sexual dysfunction, and disordered eating (Calogero, 2004;Fredrickson, Roberts, Noll, Quinn, & Twenge, 1998;Roberts, 2004;Slater & Tiggemann, 2002;Tiggemann & Slater, 2001).Self-objectification may be a critical factor to identify for the treatment...

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The PI3K/Akt signaling pathway is a major driving force in a variety of cellular functions. Dysregulation of this pathway has been implicated in many human diseases including cancer. While the activity of the cytoplasmic PI3K/Akt pathway has been extensively studied, the functions of these molecules and their effector proteins within the nucleus are poorly understood. Harboring key cellular processes such as DNA replication and repair as well as nascent messenger RNA transcription, the nucleus provides a unique compartmental environment for protein–protein and protein–DNA/RNA interactions required for cell survival, growth, and proliferation. Here we summarize recent advances made toward elucidating the nuclear PI3K/Akt signaling cascade and its key components within the nucleus as they pertain to cell growth and tumorigenesis. This review covers the spatial and temporal localization of the major nuclear kinases having PI3K activities and the counteracting phosphatases as well as the role of nuclear PI3K/Akt signaling in mRNA processing and exportation, DNA replication and repair, ribosome biogenesis, cell survival, and tumorigenesis.

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