Self-efficacy, future expectation, and perceived stress in high school student-athletes: a cross-sectional study

Adolescence is a period in which beliefs about personal capability and expectations for the future develop alongside increasing academic and, for student-athletes, sporting demands. This study examined the associations among self-efficacy, future expectation, and perceived stress in high school student-athletes.

This cross-sectional study included 425 high school student-athletes who completed measures of self-efficacy, future expectation, and perceived stress. Confirmatory factor analyses and multivariable regression models were used to examine domain- and component-level associations.

Self-efficacy dimensions were positively associated with several future-expectation domains, with social self-efficacy showing the most consistent pattern after FDR correction. Emotional self-efficacy was negatively associated with Perceived Distress, whereas no self-efficacy dimension remained significantly associated with Perceived Coping after FDR correction. Future-expectation domains were not significantly associated with either perceived-stress component in the adjusted models after FDR correction. Female gender and higher grade level were associated with greater Perceived Distress.

Self-efficacy showed domain-specific associations with future expectation and perceived stress in high school student-athletes. Emotional self-efficacy was associated with lower Perceived Distress, whereas future-expectation domains showed no significant adjusted associations with either perceived-stress component after FDR correction. Given the cross-sectional design, these findings should be interpreted as contemporaneous associations rather than causal effects.