Abstract
BACKGROUND: Studies of self-efficacy in sports have demonstrated its importance in performance. These have been of English-speaking and Latin American origin, mostly descriptive, qualitative, and relate it essentially to emotional variables; interventions reveal its sources and the way to improve it. OBJECTIVE: A meta-analysis and systematic review of self-efficacy studies in high- performance sports in 2015-2022. DESIGN: The PRISMA method and a flow diagram were used. The databases were SciELO, Dialnet, Redalyc, CORE, REBID, Science Research, Google Scholar, and PubMed. The dimensions of analysis were: descriptions of the articles; methodological approach, and characteristics of the self-efficacy measurements. The keywords "self-efficacy" and "sports," along with their translations into Spanish, were connected using the OR Boolean operator. The inclusion of "high performance" or "elite" was carefully considered to avoid unintended exclusions. RESULTS: Thirty-four articles were selected, with soccer and basketball being the most studied sports. Descriptive and correlational designs predominated: increasing relationships between two or more variables with self-efficacy, the studies that discussed interventions were the only ones that addressed longitudinal studies. In the measurements, those of general self-efficacy predominate according to the tasks faced by the athletes; individual self-efficacy is more highly valued; strength and generality are considered in the microanalyses. CONCLUSION: Progress has been shown in studies of self-efficacy in high-performance sports. There remain opportunities for longitudinal studies, instruments with sport-specific indicators, analysis of levels and collective self-efficacy that will allow researchers to further explain the phenomenon.