People who grew up with a parent who abused alcohol may have a higher risk of suicide attempt, according to a recent study.

Researchers found that adults with a parent who abused alcohol may be 85 percent more likely to attempt suicide than people whose parents did not abuse alcohol, according to a press release. They also found that having divorced parents increased the risk that a person would try to take his or her own life by 14 percent when compared to people whose parents did not divorce.

However, putting those two factors together -- parents who abuse alcohol and are divorced -- did not increase suicide attempts, according to the study.

"These findings underscore the need for comprehensive client and family assessments by clinicians to identify people in particular need of early interventions," Dana Alonzo, lead author of the study, said in a statement. "Individuals whose parents were divorced or abused alcohol might be more vulnerable for suicide than those from intact or nonalcoholic households. Prevention and treatment efforts need to target groups that are accurately identified as at risk."

For the study, researchers examined data from a 2001-2002 Department of Health and Human Services survey of more than 43,000 people 18 years old or older. About 13,750 participants reported they had suffered major depression at some point in their life and of those, 1,073 said they had attempted suicide.

Investigators found that in the group that reported attempted suicide, 25 percent said they had parents who divorced and 46 percent said one or both parents abused alcohol. From the full sample, 2.4 percent reported a suicide attempt, 16 percent reported their parents were divorced and 21 percent said at least one parent had abused alcohol.

According to researchers, the study was the first with a nationally representative sample to examine whether having divorced parents or a parent who abused alcohol affects the likelihood of suicide attempts.

The findings will be published in the May issue of American Psychological Association's American Journal of Orthopsychiatry.