Parents worry more about their children taking drugs than possessing knives or guns, research suggests.
Four in 10 parents said drug use is their biggest fear for their youngsters – 10 times as many as those who say they are concerned about their children carrying weapons (4.7 per cent).
But team sports could be the key to keeping children on the right path, it suggests.
More than nine in 10 (90.1 per cent) of the parents surveyed said sport can help stop young people getting involved in illegal or anti-social behaviour.
However, a quarter (26.8 per cent) of youngsters never take part in a team sport – a figure that rises to four in 10 (40 per cent) among 16 to 18-year-olds.
The poll, which questioned more than 1,000 parents of children aged eight to 18, also reveals that around one in six (16.8 per cent) say their biggest fear for their youngsters is alcohol use, with one in eight (12 per cent) concerned about fighting.
Just 6.9 per cent said their biggest fear is that their child will become a member of a gang.
The poll reveals that many parents fear the outlook for their children’s future is gloomy, with many saying youngsters are more at risk of becoming involved in illegal or anti-social behaviour than when they were young.
Nearly half (47.2 per cent) of those questioned said they were “concerned” about the general outlook for today’s young people, while nearly a third (32 per cent) said they were “worried”.
Almost eight in 10 (78.1 per cent) said youngsters were more at risk of becoming involved in anti-social or illegal activities, while one in five (19.8 per cent) said the risk is the same now as when they were young.
The poll found that more than half (57 per cent) of parents believe their child may have taken part in some kind of illegal or anti-social activities from alcohol or drug use to vandalism, gun or knife crime.
The survey was commissioned by the partners of StreetChance – which encourages young people in areas hit by youth crime or anti-social behaviour to play cricket – and supported by Barclays Spaces for Sports initiative.
Insp Mark Johnson of the Metropolitan Police, one of the StreetChance partners, said: “Cricket is a team sport and a great tool for breaking down barriers with young people. Everyone’s involved, batting and bowling, and immediately the children and officers interact with one another.