During the teenage years, from 12-18, hanging out with friends becomes a favorite pastime. Research from our pals Csikszentmihalyi and Larson (1984) shows high school students spend almost 30% of their waking hours with friends, excluding classroom time! That's more than double the time they spend with adults (around 13%). Let's translate this: if your day is a pizza, you're sharing a larger slice with your friends than your parents.

In this stage of life, friendships go beyond shared hobbies or a mutual love for pizza. It's all about emotional intimacy and self-disclosure - revealing secrets, sharing thoughts, fears, dreams. Think of it as a VIP pass to a concert, but the concert is your friend's personal world.

Also, teenagers realize friends need space, so they respect each other's independence (Parker et al, 2006). So, the green-eyed monster of jealousy over friends starts to shrink.

Now let's talk about 'cliques', an essential part of the teenage ecosystem. A clique is like a club of folks who interact often and share similar interests. Think of it like your favorite band's fan-club, where everyone shares a common love for the same music.

Cliques provide a sense of stability during this time when interactions with strangers increase. Remember the first time you went to a new school or a party, and you knew hardly anyone there? Yeah, that can be overwhelming. Having a group to belong to makes navigating these situations easier.

But here's the twist: Shrum and Cheek (1987) found out that as teenagers grow older, there's a decrease in definite clique members and an increase in teenagers tied to multiple cliques. This suggests that as we mature, we learn to appreciate diversity and become more open to different friend groups. So while your teenager might have their primary friend group, they're also making connections outside of that, kind of like having a home team but also making friends with players from other teams.

And guess what? During this time, cliques also become more mixed-gender, and romantic relationships begin to evolve. So, it's no longer "boys have cooties" or "girls are yucky". The world of love and romance starts to enter the picture!