Almost half of the 3,000 homeless people aged under 25 surveyed said that physical and other abuse, marital breakdown between parents and other family problems had forced them to leave home.

The report also challenges the view that it is only big cities that have a problem with young people living on the streets.

It highlights problems in three provincial areas - Lincolnshire, Crawley and Horsham in West Sussex, and South Yorkshire, where interviews were conducted between November 1996 and October 1997.

The report was published by The Network, a partnership between the homeless charity Shelter and Midland Bank.

Shelter director Chris Holmes said: "This research explodes the myth that young people choose to be homeless.

"For most of them family breakdown, actual violence or abuse means they find themselves facing housing difficulties through no fault of their own.

"It is particularly worrying that there are so many people under 18 facing homelessness, but even these high figures are just the tip of the iceberg since so many young people who have housing difficulties do not contact local agencies, turning to friends for advice instead."