Impact of football coach teaching style on youth learning engagement: The mediating role of academic self-efficacy

Objective: To explore the connection and action mechanism between football coach teaching style and students' learning input, and to investigate the mediating role of academic self-efficacy. Methods: This study surveyed 900 students from four different schools using the teaching style questionnaire, study input questionnaire and academic self-efficacy questionnaire. During the data analysis phase, the collected data were systematically processed and analyzed by using the SPSS27.0 software. In order to deeply explore the mediation effect of academic self-efficacy in the teaching style of football coaches and students' learning input, the structural equation model was further constructed using AMOS28.0 software, and the Bootstrap method was used to carefully analyze the path mechanism between variables. Results: There were all significant correlations among teaching style, learning input, and academic self-efficacy. Direct effects analysis showed that teaching style had a significant direct predictive effect on students' learning input (β =0.500, P <0.001). The mediation effect analysis indicated that academic self-efficacy played a partial mediator in the influence of teaching style on students' learning input, with a mediation effect value of 0.212 and 95% confidence interval of [0.144,0.239]. Conclusion: Teaching style not only directly affects students' learning input, but also indirectly through academic self-efficacy.