Cliques are characterized by a pattern of relationships in which each member is either directly or indirectly connected with every other member, and in each pair relationship the members exchange social overtures (phone calls, get-togethers, etc.) on a fairly equal basis. Joining cliques, having the desire to join a particular clique, and being excluded from cliques are considered a normal part of adolescent development. T

Membership in a clique is defined; it is known who is and who is not a member. Members think of themselves as a composing group; they have a shared identity, thinking of themselves a group. There is a sense of shared purpose amongst the members and they communicate differently with nonmembers than they do with members. Members have expectations for certain ways of behaving in various situations in which the clique finds itself, and will approve or disapprove of another member based on these expectations. There are leadership roles and policies in cliques and a status system. There is a hierarchy of worth of the individual to the group; members know how much they are valued and for what. No two cliques are a like on these dimensions. Membership is the perception by the individual of the quality of his or her relationship to the group.

Once, high schools were divided simply into the in-crowd and everyone else. But as they have grown larger they have spawned a fabulous diversity of gangs, cliques, crews and posses. These include athletes and preppies and wanna-be gangsters; pot-smoking skaters and sullen punks; gays and nerds and, yes, morbid, chalk-faced Goths. Cliques proclaim their identities with uniforms that are surprisingly similar from coast to coast. Chinos and button-down shirts mark kids as preppies a thousand miles from Andover; baggy jeans signify hip-hop on a Laotian kid in Iowa no less than on a homeboy straight out of Bed-Stuy. Long before most people had heard of Columbine High School, the black trench coat was a potent symbol for kids in places like central Texas who would rather suffocate than conform to how the cool kids thought they should dress.

Cliques are relatively small, tightly knit groups of friends who spend considerable, and often exclusive time with each other. Cliques have a minimum size of three members and are required to have most of their interaction with the members of the same clique and at least two links with others. The clique is the most prevalent and important friendship structure for adolescents. Studies also have indicated that members being similar of one another in age, gender, race and social status, as well as in types of interests and activities of the members characterize cliques. In a social networks, those who are not members of a clique members are isolates, however, isolates are key to the social network because before there were cliques and liaisons there were isolates. In effect they keep the network live alive and running. Adolescents show a significant prevalence of liaisons relationships: Liaisons are adolescents who don not have allegiance to a particular clique but have crosscutting friendships with many adolescents. Unlike isolates, therefo

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Approximate Word count = 1836
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)