University students experience a substantial amount of change where they
progress from the highly controlled setting of school to the self-motivated
environment of the university. Many changes which involve social,
financial, and environment elements, can be a burden to the students putting
them at risk in negative health behaviours. Negative health behaviours
among university students are a cause for concern since they have a
tendency to be carried into adulthood, which may cause the emergence of
chronic disease at a younger age. Spiritual intelligence together with selfefficacy
is seen to promote better health behaviour. Therefore, the purpose
of the study was to investigate the relationship between spiritual intelligence
and self-efficacy on health behaviours among university students in
Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia. A correlational study was conducted
on 400 undergraduate university students living on campus and were chosen
through stratified random sampling technique using closed ended
questionnaires (The Spiritual Self-Report Inventory, General Self Efficacy
Scale and a modified version of Health Style Questionnaire). Pearson
correlation and structural equation modelling were used to explore
association between these aspects. Spiritual intelligence, self-efficacy and
health behaviour were significantly correlated. Self-efficacy showed a
partial mediation effect towards the relationship between spiritual
intelligence and promoting health behaviour (p=0.000). Thus, an association
was found between spiritual intelligence with health behaviour, and selfefficacy
with health behaviour. It is interpreted that spiritual intelligence can
boost positive health behaviour and it is associated with self-efficacy
relevantly gives benefit to health behaviour. Such data have important
implications for both health practice and policy, especially in the context of
higher education institutions.