Using the term to describe groups of youths is "inappropriate" and could actually make their activities worse, a major study on gangs suggested.

Instead of the phrase "gang-related" the report used the term "group-related", although it declined to coin a new definition of what constituted a gang.

"Recently there has been a noticeable trend towards referring to groups of young people indiscriminately as gangs," said the 200-page study. "This is not appropriate and it could exacerbate the extent and seriousness of group-related offending or create problems where none previously existed.

"Juvenile gangs do exist in some urban areas, but most young people involved in group offending do not belong to gangs - even if others label them in this way."

It went on: "Many young people interviewed for this study resented the way in which the term had come to be used to describe any group of young people involved in anti-social behaviour. They felt adults attached the label to them simply on the basis that they were young and met in a group, assuming that crime was their main purpose for meeting.

"In fact, the label conjured up an image with which they might not want to be associated, even where they were involved in offending - not least because in some cases they knew from their own local experience what real gangs were and several of the young women in particular had suffered at their hands."

However, others could find the gang image "seductive" on the back of gangster movies and "gangsta"-style black music, it added.

Professionals working in youth crime, such as Youth Offending Team staff, were also concerned about indiscriminate use of the term "gang", said the study.

It recommended giving schools more information about when a child had become a victim of crime outside school, or when a family member had been released from jail. Expertise of foster parents and care home staff also should be drawn on urgently, it said.