University College of London conducted a study in which they surveyed fourteen year olds to know what they did in their free time.
This study, named The Millennium Cohort Study, had a total of 11,000 respondents.
The findings were quite surprising, as 5% of respondents claimed to have hacked or attempted to hack a computer system in the last year.
While in other rebellious activities, % of the teens admitted to being gang members, 4% were involved in vandalism, 3% smoked regularly, and 2 % said to have been engaged in sexual intercourse.
Hacking has also proven to be more popular than shoplifting and stealing from someone, with a 4:1 percent ratio respectively.
According to a report from the National Crime Agency, NCA, the average age of individuals involved in cyber criminal activities was 17 years.
The report also confirmed that almost 2/3rds of teenagers started hacking computers systems before they turned 16.
According to the reports, more boys seems to be interested in hacking than girls, with 60% of those interested in hacking being boys.
While hacking was high, it certainly did not top the list as 10% of respondents agreed to drinking regularly.
One of the researchers, professor Emla Fitzsimons, indicated that their findings provided valuable insights into bad behaviours among teenagers today.
She also suggested that the government should take steps to promote healthy activities among people of all ages, especially children.
