PTSD seems to be related with uncontrollable and/or unpredictable aversive events. Direct evidence for this hypothesis has been found by Bolstad & Zinbarg 1997.
If this hypothesis is correct, the effects of sexual abuse (unwanted sexual experiences) and physical abuse should be of the same order, because it is the same causal link (perception of control).
This is in agreement with the findings of Rodriguez et al. 1997.
See also Kiser et al. 1991
Bassuk et al 2001 found that extremely poor women with lifetime PTSD were more likely to have grown up in family environments of violence, threat, and anger than those without PTSD. The strongest risk factor for PTSD was childhood sexual abuse with threat.
Comorbidity of PTSD with some other problems for abused women seems to be great. Zlotnick et.al. 1996 propose a new, complex PTSD or disorder of extreme stress not otherwise specified (DESNOS). It includes symptoms of somatization, dissociation, hostility, anxiety, alexithymia, social dysfunction, maladaptive schemas, self-destruction and adult victimization.
Ouimette et.al. 1996 considered comorbidity with alcohol abuse (AA) and found that PTSD-AA women "reported more childhood sexual abuse" and "more PTSD, dissociation, and borderline personality traits than" the groups with PTSD only and the comparison group.