Interaction between self-efficacy and coach expectation pressure on adolescent athletes’ performance

This study aimed to examine the role of self-efficacy and pressure of coach expectations in predicting the performance of adolescent athletes. This study used a cross-sectional survey design involving 142 athletes aged 16–19 years from regional and national sports clubs. Data analysis included Pearson correlation test, independent-samples t-test, and multiple linear regression. The results showed that self-efficacy was positively and significantly associated with athlete performance, while coach expectation pressure was negatively and significantly related to athlete performance. In addition, there were differences in performance by gender, with male athletes reporting higher performance scores than female athletes. When gender was included as a control variable in the regression model, self-efficacy and coach expectations pressure remained significant predictors of athlete performance. Overall, these findings suggest that internal psychological factors and pressures from the sports environment play a role in explaining variations in adolescent athlete performance. This study emphasizes the importance of strengthening self-efficacy and the application of realistic and supportive expectations of coaches in the process of coaching athletes. Further longitudinal research is needed to examine this relationship in more depth.