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An unexpected interest in research

Caitlin Babcock ’25, a psychology major from Salinas, California, wasn’t sure research was her path after graduation. The idea of spending all day in a lab, conducting studies in the name of science, didn’t sound appealing, at least not at first.

But in fall 2024, Caitlin worked with psychology professor Jennifer Linder on a research project analyzing social media use among Gen Z students. That experience changed everything, becoming not just one, but two separate collaborative projects.

“It’s pretty unique,” Caitlin said. “I'm doing two independent things with Professor Linder that are actually rather related.”

Developing the scale

Caitlin’s first task was helping validate the Media Use Motivations Scale (MUMS), a survey tool designed to measure why college students use social media and how those motivations relate to academic achievement.

“The Media Use Motivations Scale has four different sub-scales categorizing the different types of motivation for using social media,” Caitlin said. “They include social sharing, social monitoring, information gathering and negative mood modulation.”

These measures were put into a survey, which Caitlin distributed to students in psychology classes to complete.

Preparing the presentation

In addition to the MUMS research, Caitlin also worked with Professor Linder on a study regarding social media use and academic achievement. The research specifically focused on a sample of adolescents and looked at “frustration tolerance" and "persistence despite difficulty" on the relationship between social media use and academic success.

“In simpler terms, the study looked to see if ‘persistence despite difficulty’ and ‘frustration tolerance’ directly impact the relationship between social media use and academic success,” Caitlin explained.

While Caitlin didn’t collect the data herself, she played a critical role by designing the presentation poster and submitting the application to present the poster at a national conference.

Presenting her poster nationally

In May, Caitlin presented the poster alongside Professor Linder at the Society for Research in Child Development conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“Presenting the research at the SRCD conference in Minneapolis went great,” Caitlin said. “It was so cool to see other research around social media, as well as the other interesting topics in the field of developmental psychology. It was also nice to gain the practice and experience of presenting research, as it helped prepare me for my future in graduate school and beyond.”

The whole experience itself has been eye-opening for Caitlin. If it weren’t for this opportunity, she never would have considered research.

“I'm very focused on the exercise science side. I want to work in sports, so I never really considered research in developmental psychology,” Caitlin said. “But Professor Linder sat down with me and explained that this actually could be really good experience for grad school, and everything kind of just went from there.”

Future Opportunities

From working with Professor Linder, Caitlin’s outlook on grad school has changed.

“I was looking at programs that weren't based in research, just because I didn’t want to do research,” Caitlin said. “This showed me that if you research something you're passionate about it can be fun. My plan post-graduation is to take a year off, then apply to graduate programs in the field of sport and exercise science and/or clinical mental health.”

Opportunities at Linfield

Caitlin never expected to dive into research during her time at Linfield, but she’s grateful for the experience.

“My four years here have been amazing. I don't think I would have had them at a bigger university,” she said. “There are so many opportunities across Linfield, not just in the psychology department. Even if it seems scary, take that step because it's good for you in so many ways. It looks great on a resume, and it's really fun.”