This article reports on an investigation of the impact of parental status (parent vs stepparent) on the perception others will have of the parents of an adolescent suicide. 210 college students read obituaries of 18-20 year-olds. The subjects viewed steppparents as having been less close to the young person, as taking less time to recover psychologically from the loss, & less likeable, suggesting that stepparents may face an additional burder of negative social perception (26 Refs.)