The gangs and cults begin to embrace negative, extreme ideas and fantasies, then members reinforce those ideas for each other, said Dr. Paul J. Ciborowski, a professor at Long Island University who specializes in teens. That may have been true of the Trench Coat Mafia, he said. Some students at Columbine High School said last week that the members of the Trench Coat Mafia were teased for their appearance but said many students just ignored them. They sat in the back of classrooms and seemed to want to be separate, sometimes not answering when spoken to, students said. The difference between cliques and more intense affiliations is the level of rituals and the amount of involvement required by members.
Cliques are casual associations of kids, generally with the same interests.
Teens in cliques spend time together at school and spend some time at home together, but it is not an obsession. And they have other interests and connections. Gangs require a more intense affiliation, with strict rules and dress codes. They begin taking over the teen's life. Members can wear only certain colors or outfits more and more divergent from the norm.