The view that those with obsessive compulsive disorder or obsessional personality have been exposed to overcontrolling and overcritical parenting is examined. Two measures of obsessionality (the Maudsley Obsessional-Compulsive Inventory and the Leyton Obsessionality Inventory) were completed by 344 nonclinical subjects. They also scored their parents on the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), a measure assessing perceived levels of parental care and overprotection, before and after controlling for levels of state depression, trait anxiety and neuroticism in the analyses. Those scoring as more obsessional returned higher PBI protection scale scores. Links with PBI care scale scores were less clear, essentially restricted to the Maudsley Inventory, and variably influenced by controlling other variables.