RELATIONSHIP OF CHILDHOOD SEXUAL, PHYSICAL, AND COMBINED SEXUAL AND PHYSICAL ABUSE TO ADULT VICTIMIZATION AND POSTTRAUMATIC-STRESS-DISORDER

Objective: Prior research has suggested that women who experience chil dhood sexual abuse are at increased risk for sexual victimization and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in adulthood. However, previous s tudies have paid insufficient attention to the overlap of childhood se xual and physical abuse. In the present study we disentangled the sepa rate and combined effects of childhood sexual and physical abuse by co mparing groups of participants who reported contact childhood sexual a buse only (SA), sequelae of childhood physical abuse only (PA), combin ed childhood sexual and physical abuse (CA), or no child abuse (NA). M ethod: A sample of 475 female college students completed measures of s exual and physical abuse in childhood (before age 15) and adulthood (a fter age 15), PTSD and trauma symptoms, and demographic variables. Of these participants, 27 were assigned to the SA group, 53 to the PA gro up, 31 to the CA group, and 211 to the NA group. Results: The highest rate of adult sexual and/or physical victimization was reported by the CA group, followed by the PA group, with lower rates reported by the SA and NA groups. Using adult victimization as a covariate, the analys es revealed that the CA group reported significantly higher rates of P TSD and trauma symptoms compared to the NA group. Conclusions: The res ults suggest that prior reports of differences in rates of adult victi mization and PTSD between women who experienced childhood sexual abuse and women who did not may be attributable to the inclusion of partici pants with a history of combined childhood sexual and physical abuse i n childhood sexual abuse groups. The importance of separating physical and combined forms of victimization from sexual abuse is discussed. ( C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.