Adolescent cliques are cliques that develop amongst adolescents. In the social sciences, the word "clique" is used to describe a group of 2 to 12 (averaging 5 or 6) "who interact with each other more regularly and intensely than others in the same setting". Cliques are distinguished from "crowds" in that their members socially interact with one another more than the typical crowd (e.g. hang out together, go shopping, play sports etc.). Crowds, on the other hand, are defined by reputation. Although the word 'clique' or 'cliquey' is often used in day-to-day conversation to describe relational aggression or snarky, gossipy behaviors of groups of socially dominant teenage girls, that is not always accurate. Interacting with cliques is part of normative social development regardless of gender, ethnicity, or popularity. Although cliques are most commonly studied during adolescence, they exist in all age groups. Definition As children enter adolescence, cultural, biological and cognitive changes cause variation in their daily lives. Adolescents spend far less time with their parents and begin participating in both structured and unstructured peer activities. Without the direct presence of their parents or other adults, their peer network begins to become the primary context for most socialization and activity. There was an explanation given by B. Bradford Brown on the psychological development stages in adolescents, and one of the stages He named "to fit in" stage, which means to find secure affiliations and obtain approval from peers. He said that adolescents spend a lot more time with their peers than younger children, and are more influence by the peer group than younger children. These social "cliques" fundamentally influence adolescent life and development. Perhaps because they are perceived as an external threat to parental authority, undesired changes in adolescent behavior are often attributed to cliques. In these situations, cliques are described as "social grouping[s] of persons that exhibit a great deal of peer pressure on its members and is exclusive, based on superficial differences". Researchers, however, question these assumptions: based on empiric data from both experiments and ethnographies they suggest that clique structure characterizes many friendship networks within any given school, not all of which negatively affect adolescents. A more neutral and scientific definition of clique is "a grouping of persons who interact with each other more regularly and intensely than others in the same setting". Although cliques can range from two to twelve people, cliques typically consist of five