Teen Cliques

Case Study Analysis #1

A group is considered three or more individuals who are connected to one another by interpersonal relationships; common features of groups include: joint activities that focus on the task at hand and activities that concern the interpersonal relations linking group members. Roles, norms, and interpersonal relations along with cohesiveness and shared goals are other important factors that help maintain the group dynamic . Gina Kurban presented in this article is trying to understand her child’s social life in and out of school. Her daughter spent a lot of time with a certain group of girls that had once appeared to be a good group of friends, but now her daughter is the center of devious games. The clique has ostracized Gina’s daughter from the group, using power, popularity, and clout to put her down. These cliques can be mentally, emotionally, and even physically harmful to the kids who simply don’t fit in. Unfortunately, the clique itself seems to have its own stigma of class and reputation. These groups have a sense of belonging to help define the kids who are seeking self-reassurance and self-confidence; thus, the outcome for these kids is belonging. One of the major characteristics of humans is the tendency to join others in groups . Most kids and adults who want to join groups want to feel safe, well liked, and that they belong to something just more than themselves. The quirk of fate is that these groups can be the best support system ever and the next minute they can be the most detrimental. Overall, most parents of today are having to face and deal with these harsh realities of the social world possibly reflecting about their own past, but most of all seeing their child in pain.

Regrettably, this behavior begins at a very young age. These cliques can erupt as young as elementary school, in part, because children today are more apt to spend their time in day care institutions and/or extracurricular activities . This poses a problem for some families who want to spend time with their children after school or after the activities. In these cliques, most children, would like to be with their secondary group rather than being with their primary group. These cliques tend to have more interdependence, psychological significance and shared identification than the primary group at home. And if that is not enough, there are matters of fitting in. Fitting in can and will be the underlying factor of being accepted into a group. Certain status symbols help determine whether or not that child would be accepted into a particular group; such symbols like: fad clothing, accessories, and hairstyles . The parents of these children tend to buy into this notion of purchasing the latest fad items for their kids because if they don’t purchase them then the parents feel like they are failing their children. The most likely reason for this is that parents, when they were young, were not allowed to purchase the cool items the other kids had. Inevitably, the parents of today feel they need to do this for their children because they know what it feels like to be without the cool stuff. However, the parents should not feel this way by redeeming their past with their children, this sends out a mixed message to the children. The parents are not failing their kids if they don’t have all the latest items, and if they do purchase them the children accepting these items may feel like they fit in due to the things they have, but internally it does not solve the issues of their self-concept.

The cliques themselves affect each individual’s self-concept. The need to belong to a social group is pervasive. Most humans tend to want to form and maintain these groups. Once these groups are formed the collectivistic nature then occurs. Collectivists feel close likeness with one another and more likely to accept a shared orientation to their group. They focus their time and energy on the people who belong to their group, the ingroup, and the people who do not belong or belong to some other group are considered the outgroup . Interdependents, in contrast to individualists, put their group’s needs, and goals above their own. These people in these groups value their relationships with their peers and are respectful of others. In the article presented, there is an example of how children are floating down in a life raft in the school hallway, and it’s really scary and exciting that the kids need somebody they can walk with down the hallway, in all, being with someone else or a group makes the kids feel safe, and that they belong. Social identity theory suggests that two cognitive processes occur, categorization and identification . When these two processes are combined they transform