In this court sketch, Michael Adebolajo, who was sentenced to life in prison in February for the 2013 killing of British soldier Lee Rigby, tells the court he loves Al-Qaeda. Elizabeth Cook/PA/AP

Youth, wealth, and a full-time education are risk factors associated with violent radicalization, according to a British study released Wednesday that challenges commonly-held notions in the West of what makes an individual prone to sympathizing with terrorist acts.

Perhaps surprisingly, religious practice, mental health, social inequality and political engagement were not significant factors.

Researchers from Queen Mary University in London surveyed more than 600 men and women of South Asian Muslim heritage living in London and Bradford to assess their sympathy or condemnation for 16 different actions that are broadly defined as “terrorism,” such as the use of suicide bombs "to fight injustice," for example.

Most experts suggest that radicalization is a staged process that begins with a pre-radicalization phase, marked by the onset of sympathetic feelings towards violent acts. The study focused on those sentiments, which might make an individual particularly vulnerable to persuasion by extremist groups that seek recruits.

“We’re offering a new paradigm for sympathies as an early phase of radicalization that can be measured,” Kamaldeep Bhui, the study's lead author and a cultural psychology professor at the university, told Al Jazeera.

While just 2.4 percent of people expressed some sympathy for violence overall, researchers found that those under the age 20, those in full-time education rather than employment, and those with annual incomes above $125,000 were more prone to express sympathy for violent protests and "terrorism."

“One explanation for homegrown terrorism in high-income countries is that it’s about inequality-related grievances," Bhui said in a phone interview. "We were surprised that [the] inequality paradigm seems not to be supported. The study essentially seemed to show that those born in the U.K. consistent with the radicalization paradigm are actually more affluent or well off.”

Two other findings stood in conflict with prevailing stereotypes about so-called homegrown terrorism in the West: Immigrants and those who speak a non-English language at home, as well as those who reported suffering from anxiety or depression, were less likely to express sympathy for terrorist acts.