Clique Membership and Social Adjustment in Children's Same-Gender Cliques: The Contribution of the Type of Clique to Children's Self-Reported Adjustment

The effect of the type of a clique to which a child belongs on his or her social and emotional adjustment was examined in a sample of 473 fourth- and fifth-grade elementary school students. A cluster analysis identified five types of cliques based on clique members' aggregated scores on seven behavioral characteristics (i.e., prosocial, bully, reactive aggression, athletic, withdrawn, bright, fun): average, withdrawn, tough, incompetent/aggressive, and competent cliques. On average, children in average, tough, and competent cliques were higher in their social status than children in withdrawn and incompetent/aggressive cliques. With regard to self-reported adjustment outcomes, children in competent and average cliques displayed higher levels of adjustment (e.g., high interpersonal competence, low anxiety, and low dissatisfaction with network participation) than children in withdrawn and incompetent/aggressive cliques. Children in tough cliques reported lower levels of dissatisfaction with peer influence than those in incompetent/aggressive cliques.