NIJAMSS peer-reviewed article

Demographic Moderation of the Association between Trauma Exposure and Job Performance among Police Officers in Njoro Sub-County, Kenya

Jones Orina Omwenga; Daniel A. Otwori

Abstract: Background: Occupational trauma is common in policing, but its association with job performance may vary across officer characteristics. Objective: To examine whether demographic and service characteristics modify the association between trauma exposure and self-reported job performance in Njoro Sub-County, Kenya. Methods: This analysis draws on a cross-sectional mixed-methods thesis involving 128 responding officers from a sample of 147 (87.1%) and interviews with five station commanders. Questionnaire data were summarized descriptively and examined using interaction terms in regression. Results: More than 70% of officers reported at least one traumatic exposure in the preceding six months. The reported direct trauma-performance coefficient was B = -0.214 (SE = 0.073, p = .004). Significant reported interactions were age (B = 0.165, p = .013), rank or years of service (B = 0.182, p = .005), education (B = 0.138, p = .041), marital status or family support (B = 0.149, p = .016), and deployment history (B = 0.196, p = .003, as stated in the thesis narrative). Gender was not significant (B = -0.092, p = .192). Conclusion: The reported results suggest variation in the trauma-performance association across officer groups. Coding, reference categories, analytic sample sizes and model diagnostics are needed before the directions of individual interactions can be interpreted definitively.

Keywords: Demographic factors; Job performance; Kenya; Moderation; Police officers; Trauma exposure

Journal

Nexus International Journal of Applied Science, Medicine and Social Sciences

e-ISSN

3144-2196

Publication date

August 2026

Volume / Issue

Vol. 1, Issue 2

Paper number

023

Article type

Original Research

Published paper ID

NIJAMSS-V1S2-AUG2026-023

Publisher

Nexus Academic Press

Access

Open Access

Full text PDF: https://www.nijamss.org/archives-download/nijamss-vol-1-series-2-august-2026-paper-023.pdf