A quarter of children do not consider their father to be part of their immediate family.

Research which suggests that fathers are distant figures for many children found that only 11 per cent would turn to their father for help in a crisis compared with 76 per cent who would confide in their mother.

Among poorer households, a third of children did not regard their fathers as part of their family, according to the survey, conducted for the BBC children’s television programme Newsround.

Many children said that their fathers were very tired from work or slept in the day so they could work at night, making it impossible to get enough time together. More than half wanted to spend more time with their parents.

Many children (62 per cent) said that their parents worried too much about their safety. That finding echoes other research that suggests children may find it difficult to forge close friendships because they are not allowed to play outside unsupervised.

Children in Newsround’s survey said they wanted to spend more time playing outside rather than on computers, but were not able to do so because of their parents’ fears, or the lack of somewhere safe to play.

Three quarters of the young people said they liked school and believed that they needed to get good examination results to get on in life.

Kathy Evans, of the Children’s Society, which is itself holding an inquiry into childhood, said: “That 26 per cent of children don’t consider their dad as close family raises questions about how fathers can be supported to play a more instrumental role in their child’s life.”

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