The paper describes an attempt to investigate the parental patterns associated with presence of suicidal thoughts, a measure of child rearing patterns & the EPQ measure of personality dimensions administered to 85 university students, 72 medical & surgical patients, & 125 employees of a state department, along with 2 questions tapping suicidal thoughts. Findings suggest that therapy which focuses on resolving parental rejection may be of some use in patients with suicidal ideation. (16 ref.)