Cliques

Relationships outside the household become increasingly important as a child moves through adolescence. One way to view these relationships is through cliques, which can be defined in two ways: (1) Researchers define a clique as a grouping of persons who interact with each other more regularly and intensely than others in the same setting (a more neutral definition), and (2) the more popular definition by layper-sons is a social grouping of persons that exhibits a great deal of peer pressure on its members and is exclusive, based on superficial differences (a more negative definition).

No matter which definition is chosen, cliques exhibit common criteria. Cliques are a small social group of anywhere between 2 and 12 persons, typically averaging around 6. They are created based on similar characteristics of their members, including age, gender, race, social status, socioeconomic status (SES), and shared interests and activities. Cliques provide the major social context in which youths interact with each other, and thus are of high importance for their healthy development.

Along with the definition, an important distinction must be made to separate cliques from the similar peer grouping of crowds. Crowds are a larger grouping of individuals who share a common image or reputation with each other, or may have similar features (race, SES), but do not necessarily accept their membership in said group. Examples of crowds are jocks, nerds, populars, cheerleaders, and so on.

This entry describes the formation and maintenance of cliques, including gender differences, changes in clique structure across adolescence, types of individuals [Page 150]in/out of cliques, the process of joining cliques, as well as the benefits and problems with cliques.