the opposite pattern": uninvolved in school performance and organized activities, used alcohol frequently and to excess, and reported multiple symptoms of depression. Disengaged cliques did not encourage engagement "in much of anything, including drinking." Engaged cliques consisted of friends who "engaged in school, achieved decent grades, and neither abstained from nor abused alcohol." Members of High Functioning and Engaged cliques demonstrated the best long-term outcomes, whereas Maladjusted clique membership predicted low achievement, chronic substance abuse, and confrontation with authorities and Disengaged'' clique members and others who abstained completely typically exhibited abnormally high anxiety and inhibition. Aggression Gravitation toward similar peer groups can be especially dangerous for adolescents with aggressive tendencies. A recent observational study on antisocial, aggressive boys established that clique members tended to live in the same neighborhood, where they met and bonded through unstructured, unsupervised activities. Since antisocial groups encourage antisocial behavior, aggressive behaviors tend to escalate rapidly within groups of aggressive adolescents. In the case of bullies this effect is so detrimental that those without any friends are actually more likely to improve over time than those with friends and generally experience better long-term outcomes. In the most extreme cases, these groups may become gangs or practice less organized, but equally dangerous, violent delinquency Depression Although these maladjusted, detrimental cliques can develop among adolescents of either gender, those based on aggression and delinquency are more often observed in males. In females, adjustment problems are more often manifested as internalizing problems, rather than the externalizing problems common among their male peers. Research shows, however, that both internalizing and externalizing behaviors are negatively related to the subjective sense of strong, reliable group belonging, even controlling for adolescent age, gender, ethnicity, family structure, and parents' educational level. Because adolescent females, on average, both report stronger feelings of group belonging and place greater importance on this feeling than do their male peers, girls who do not feel accepted may be more susceptible than equally excluded boys to forming and conforming to cliques based on shared maladaptive behavior. If so, differences in internalizing or externalizing behaviors of adolescent boys and girls may be magnified during adolescence, contributing to the significant gender differences observed in adult outcomes such as incarceration and mood disorders. For example, the same cycle of selection and socialization known to exacerbate aggression applies to the internalizing behaviors associated with depression. One study on the emergence of depression in adolescence