This paper examines the psychometric properties of a Persian language version of the Illness Attitude Scale (P‐IAS) in two Iranian student samples. After translation of the Illness Attitude Scale from English into Persian and pilot testing, the P‐IAS was used in two studies. In Study 1, the results of principal component analysis with oblique (Oblimin) rotation showed that five factors best explained the P‐IAS structure among 929 students. These factors were (1) fear of illness and disease; (2) frequency of treatment; (3) hypochondriacal beliefs and symptom effects; (4) health behaviours; and (5) thanatophobia. Cronbach's alpha, mean inter‐item correlations and test–retest coefficients showed that this solution was reliable. In Study 2, with a sample of 50 Iranian students, Pearson correlations were calculated between the five factors of the P‐IAS and somatization dimension of the revised Symptom Checklist 90. The results of the second study provided further support for the construct validity of the three factors of fear of illness and disease, frequency of treatment, and hypochondriacal beliefs and symptom effects. The authors suggest that the P‐IAS is sufficiently valid and reliable for clinical and research purposes in the Iranian population. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.