LONDON (Reuters) -- Britain is becoming a nation increasingly afraid of its young people and this "paedophobia" is causing problems for children as they grow up, a report released on Sunday said.

Britons were far less likely than their European counterparts to stop young people committing antisocial behavior, because of fears of reprisals, being attacked, or verbal abuse, the study by the Institute of Policy Research (IPPR) found. It said changes to family, local communities and the economy had combined to cause "deep inequalities" in the transition from childhood to adult life, meaning many young people were incapable of growing up safely or successfully.

"The debate about childhood in Britain is polarized between false opposites: that either children or adults are to blame," said Nick Pearce, IPPR director.

"Complex structural changes to our society, coupled with changes to how young people behave, have produced this situation."

Recent studies by the British Crime Survey have shown that people's fear of antisocial behavior is rising. In August he suggested that the state should intervene early to stop children of problem families growing up into troublemakers.

The IPPR said that 1.5 million Britons now thought about moving away from the area they lived in because of "young people hanging around".

It said 1.7 million people avoided going out after dark because of their worries about antisocial behavior which the vast majority blamed on a "lack of discipline". The 200-page IPPR report said only 34 percent of Britons would stop children from vandalizing a bus shelter compared with 65 percent of Germans, 52 percent of Spaniards and 50 percent of Italians.