Children need structured activities like drama clubs
It says British adults are less likely than those in Europe to intervene when teenagers commit anti-social behaviour.
The Institute for Public Policy Research blamed changes in the family, communities and the economy for the "increased risk of youth crime".
Children's charity Barnardo's echoed the claims, saying youngsters have been "demonised" by the media.
We don't have a culture where adults go out to pubs and bars and bring children with them
Julia Margot, from the IPPR
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The report says 65% of Germans, 52% of Spanish and 50% of Italians would be willing to intervene if they saw a group of 14-year-old boys vandalising a bus shelter, compared with just 34% of Britons.
The IPPR also said teenagers needed structured activities like drama and sports clubs.
Julia Margot, from the IPPR, told the BBC Radio Five Live: "In Britain, as opposed to countries like Spain and Italy, adults are less likely to socialise with children in the evenings.
"So we don't have this culture of children hanging out and playing out in the town square where adults are also socialising and drinking.
"We don't have a culture where adults go out to pubs and bars and bring children with them, and so there is a problem about adults being less used to having children around."
Youth concerns
The 200-page report says that last year more than 1.5 million Britons thought about moving away from their local area due to young people hanging around.
About 1.7 million admitted to avoiding going out after dark as a direct result of youths gathering.
Britons were also three times more likely to cite young people "hanging around" as a problem than they were to complain about noisy neighbours.
Pam Hibbert, principle policy officer for Barnardo's, said public perceptions created by the media and politicians had bred fear amongst the nation's adults.
She said: "We have become fearful of all children.
"We know, for example, young crime in itself has remained fairly static in the last 10 years - it is a minority that cause problems and retaliate.
"The demonisation of children and young people in some sections of the media and when politicians refer to youngsters as yobs - that breeds the actual fear."
'Turning a blind eye'
British adults were more likely than their other European counterparts to say that young people were predominantly responsible for anti-social behaviour, and cite "lack of discipline as the root cause of anti-social behaviour".
The Britons who were unwilling to get involved claimed they feared being physically attacked or verbally abused - or that they would be the victim of subsequent reprisals.
Nick Pearce, IPPR director, said: "The debate about childhood in Britain is polarised between false opposites: that either children or adults are to blame.
"In closer knit communities, adults supervised their neighbours' children.
"These days, adults tend to turn a blind eye or cross over on the other side of the road rather than intervene in the discipline of another person's child, often because they fear they might be attacked."
A spokeswoman for YouthNet - an online charity which provides information, advice and guidance for people aged 16 to 24 through two websites - said young people's achievements were often overlooked.
She said: "While young people acknowledge that a minority of their peers can be anti-social, they'd like to point out that not all young people are the same and the majority, who contribute to society, work hard and have fun without being destructive, are often overlooked because the good things they do don't make news."
The report "Freedom's Orphans: Raising Youth in a Changing World" will be published next month.
Drinks, drugs, violence, promiscuity: British youth at the top or near the top of the bad youth list. And they frighten grown ups.

A report by the Institute of Public Policy Research, to be published next week, describes British youth as among the worst in Europe. The study compares teenage English and Scots with their counterparts in other European countries. 

Fewer British youths ate regularly with their family, and many more spent most evenings with their friends; they were drunk more often, got involved in fights and more had sex than other European youth.

More British adults than Continental adults would be reluctant to intervene should they see youths vandalising a bus shelter fearing a violent response.  Many adults were fearful of leaving home after dark and a large number were thinking of moving home because of youths "hanging about".

The demonisation of youth in the British media is said to have induced real fear in many adults.

Many more comparisons are made in this report. 

====Related reports====

A study comparing the behaviour of South of England youth in 2005 with that in 1985, concluded that youth now are better behaved than their predecessors. There were marked differences between boys and girls.

ASBOs (Anti-social behaviour orders) are civil actions that can be taken against those who are likely to cause alarm, harassment, or distress to others outside their family. Research by NACRO (National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders) in 2002 concluded that they were a failure. The average ASBO costs more than £5,000 to enforce and takes over three months to obtain. Over one third of all ASBOs were breached within the first 9 months of issue. 

Another report published today by NACRO criticises some courts for using ASBOs inappropriately and too readily. ASBOs should be seen as the last resort for young offenders. There should be consultations with the local Youth Offending Team (YOT) and the reasons why other remedies were not suitable should be given. There were also indications that ASBOs are being used as weapons of racial discrimination, there being a disproportionate number of young black people being served with ASBOs. In some quarters, youths flaunt ASBOs as a badge of honour.