Childhood Cliques
Peer relationships are considered to be a dominant feature of preadolescence as well as adolescence, but systematically formed networks have rarely been studied. There is a lack of information and research in the area of social networking on the level of adolescents. The issue of belonging is extremely important high school, and membership in a clique can have a strong effect on the adolescent's sense of self-worth. During high school, cliques become more consistent, though their composition may change. Research shows that the way an adolescent or teen behaves is better predicted by the behavior of cliques in which he/she is a part than by the behavior of individual. This research paper will investigate the characteristics of peer subgroups among classmates and their developmental trends throughout high school.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
Research into teenage pregnancy has shown just how persuasive peer groups can be. For example, adolescents who have a high sense of connectedness to their parents, particularly their mothers, tend to be less likely than other youth to engage in antisocial behaviors (Hirschi, 1999). Participation in sports, extracurricular activities involving the arts or hobbies, and clubs or community organizations have been found to provide children and youth with the opportunity to win recognition for their productivity. 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. This helps explain why they're usually at the top: their exploits celebrated in pep rallies and recorded in the school paper and in trophy cases. Those who have a greater sense of connectedness to school tend to be more likely than other youth to perform well academically and to stay in school (Connell, Spencer, and Aber, 1994). Unlike isolates, therefore, they interact extensively with their peers, but not as clique members. The presence of liaisons, therefore, can result in a more open and integrated social network rather than a more close segregated one. In effect they keep the network live alive and running. As adolescents spend less and less time with their parents, cliques increasingly fill the emotional void, and the high-school game of acceptance or rejection is being played for even higher emotional stakes. A clique may offer a member a sense of industry and competency. High School stands as the prime breeding grounds for cliques to continue, begin, and or flourish. 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. 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.
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Acceptance Essays
