Similarity breeds friendship formation, stability, and decreased dissolution.

Two opposing hypotheses are the homophily-selection hypothesis and the default-selection hypothesis.

These findings can be explained by evolutionary processes.

I’ll admit it. I was a nerd in elementary school.

I don’t mean that I was smarter than the other kids. I mean that my primary social crowd was “the nerds.”

And—no—peer crowd labels like “the nerds,” “the jocks,” and “the populars” aren’t made-up constructs reserved for catty teen movies. Although labels and categories can change through generations (Crabbe and colleagues, 2021), peer crowds exist. They are especially prominent in adolescence and can negatively influence teens in lower-status social crowds.

For example, Helms and colleagues (2014) found that although teens in higher-status social crowds (populars and jocks) did not significantly differ in most risky behaviors compared with those in lower-status social crowds (brains and burnouts), teens who assumed high-status peers engaged in substance use showed steeper increases in their own substance use from grades nine to eleven.

Even adults are identified by specific attributes that are associated with different levels of status. Adults looking for romantic partners tend to prioritize physical attractiveness or earning potential. They want these ideals to be present in their future mates—or at least they say they do. Eastwick and Finkel (2008) studied romantic partners before and after speed dating. Before speed dating started, participants tended to identify physical attractiveness and earning prospects as attributes they’d look for in a mate. But these preferences, identified at the beginning of the speed dating event, failed to predict the characteristics of the people they ended up with one month later.

Did I prefer to be friends with the nerds? Honestly, no.

But since we’re all friends here, I’ll also admit to lying awake in bed past my bedtime—praying that I could one day infiltrate the popular group. Does this sound desperate? Maybe. Did my wish come true? Sadly, no. But guess what? I was far from being the only one who thought that........

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