The continued study of peer influence within multiple peer contexts surely will represent a large focus of work in the coming decade. Socialization within peer cliques, in particular, has become a very popular focus of recent work. This research benefits from the recognition that adolescents and their relationships reside within cliques, crowds, and larger networks of friends, and many best friend interactions (i.e., including those that may be influential) occur in the presence of many other friends who may alter the potential for best friend socialization. This is especially relevant given the volatility of close friend relations among adolescents. Although the designation of a single “close,” or “best” friend may change rapidly, members of a broader peer clique may be more stable (Urberg, Degirmencioglu, Tolson, & Halliday-Scher, 1995). Understanding peer influence in a clique context—and, when possible, attempting to compare effects of groups and dyads (see Popp et al., 2008)—thus offers great potential to understand socialization effects more meaningfully. However, it will be important for future research to retain adequate emphasis on theory and use caution in allowing statistical applications
