What are cliques?

Under the strictest definition cliques are a small group of friends with common interests. Cliques typically form during middle school and continue into high school, although there are also reports of cliques in the adult workplace. However, in recent years, educators and school administrators have reported that many children are forming cliques at younger and younger ages, thanks, in part the rise in working parents who place their children in day care, thereby causing children to begin socializing earlier in life. Cliques become more important during middle and high school, when peer influence rises and contact with parents decreases. On average, adolescents spend one-third of all waking hours with friends; they spend, by comparison, only fifteen percent of time with their parents.

Adolescent cliques control the social structure in many schools by defining students’ friendships based on prominent characteristics. Cliques vary in size from three to ten members, with most having about five members. Whether it’s the populars or the jocks or the brains or the druggies, many of the same cliques exist at high schools all across the nation. In fact, if you were to ask your parents, many similar cliques probably existed back when they were in high school.

While cliques typically conjure up a negative connotation, there are a few good things to be said. Cliques create an atmosphere that helps an adolescent develop his or her social skills. Furthermore, they can foster an environment that allows students to feel safe by surrounding him or herself with other students who share similar attributes and interests.

However, that having been said, there as also many negative consequences to cliques. They can lead to the encouragement of negative peer pressure, such as teasing, drinking, or drug use. The may encourage the restriction of individual thought and can limit students’ ability to have a broad friendship base. Cliques are frequently arranged in a status hierarchy, with higher-status cliques manifesting tighter control over membership, but conveying more appeal to outsiders. They tend to belittle outsiders and convince group members to follow suit in this activity.