About

Christopher Han-Fai Seto is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Purdue University, having joined the department in 2023. He earned his Ph.D. in Criminology from the Pennsylvania State University. His substantive research interests include hate crime, violence, health, and religion/morality. He is especially interested in the ecological aspects of these social phenomena and often draws on spatial data and methodologies in his research. Additionally, he utilizes computational methods to explore large-scale networks and work with big social and digital data.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Computer Security
• Economics
• Medicine
• Sociology
• Statistics
• Business
• Criminology
• Geography
• Economic geography
• Environmental health
• Demographic economics
• Law
• Public economics
• Demography

Selected publications

• Belonging and blame: cultural and moral correlates of anti-Asian scapegoating for the COVID-19 pandemic

  Social Forces · 2026-04-02

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Violence and discrimination targeting Asian Americans increased substantially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and perpetrators have frequently used scapegoating language (e.g., “China virus”) or otherwise expressed blame for the pandemic as motivation. However, little empirical research has explored these pandemic scapegoating beliefs—or the preexisting beliefs, values, and narratives that support them—which is likely an important step toward understanding and addressing anti-Asian hate. This study began with an exploratory factor analysis of representative, original US survey data (N = 1941) to construct a novel measure of pandemic scapegoating beliefs. Next, drawing on theories of group threat, nationalism, and morality, multivariable regression analyses examined how (1) Christian nationalism and (2) moral foundations were linked to these pandemic scapegoating beliefs and associated language, above and beyond sociodemographic, religious, and political controls. Among non-Asian Americans, endorsement of Christian nationalism tended to be associated with heightened scapegoating, but with some differences across race and ethnicity. Individualizing moral foundations (i.e., care and fairness concerns) were associated with lower scapegoating, while binding moral foundations (i.e., loyalty, authority, and sanctity concerns) were associated with heightened scapegoating. Notably, these measures largely explained differences in scapegoating beliefs and language across political affiliations, highlighting the importance of moral culture to how outgroup scapegoating narratives become politically polarized and resonant. Implications for scholarship on contemporary anti-Asian hate and other instances outgroup scapegoating are discussed.

  PublisherDOI

• Fright by Byte: Exploring Fear of Digital Fraud in the United States From 2015 to 2022

  Crime & Delinquency · 2026-04-09

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Digital technology has provided new opportunities for fraud perpetration—and led to widespread concern about digital fraud. This study explores fear of digital fraud in the US using national survey samples collected from 2015 to 2022. We began with an exploratory factor analysis to show that fears of digital fraud are distinct from fears about other crimes, and that the US public consistently reports being the most afraid of digital fraud. We next explored sociodemographic differences and showed that fear of digital fraud can explain a substantial portion of the association between fear of new technology and poor mental health. We conclude with a discussion of societal implications and opportunities for future scholarship.

  PublisherDOI

• The Faces of God’s Country: Christian Nationalism in the United States and the Implicit Association of Asian Faces with Foreignness

  Sociology of Religion · 2025-01-20 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Understanding the recent surge of discrimination and violence against Asian Americans requires careful inquiry into the beliefs underlying perceived Asian “foreignness” in the United States (USA). This study draws on over 88,000 geographically linked implicit association test (IAT) results to investigate the links between Christian nationalism and the implicit perception of Asian faces as foreign. Christian nationalism is strongly associated with heightened implicit perceptions of Asian foreignness among non-Asian IAT participants (including other minoritized ethno-racial groups), adjusting for relevant covariates. Karlson–Holm–Breen analysis suggests that the link between Christian nationalism and the implicit perception of Asian faces as foreign is partially mediated by believing that “true” Americans were born in the USA and speak English, highlighting some of the ways through which Christian nationalism is tied to racialized conceptions of American identity and belonging. Implications for the scholarship of Christian nationalism and racism are discussed.

  PublisherDOI

• Community-Level Analysis of Anti-Asian Hate Crime

  Crime & Delinquency · 2025-04-21

  articleSenior author

  Motivated by the surge in anti-Asian hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study examines the community characteristics associated with the likelihood of their occurrence from 2020 to 2023 through interracial conflict and social disorganization perspectives. Analyzing data from the New York City Police Department and the American Community Survey across 2,198 census tracts, we find that communities with higher levels of Asian population, racial heterogeneity, and residential instability have higher odds of experiencing anti-Asian hate crime. However, concentrated disadvantage and defended neighborhoods (White, Black, and Hispanic) are not significant across all estimated models. These findings have important implications for both research and policy.

  PublisherDOI

• Pandemic Pressures: Social Isolation, Financial Hardship, and Negative Emotional Affect as Risk Factors for Physical Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration

  Journal of Interpersonal Violence · 2025-11-24

  article1st authorCorresponding

  The COVID-19 pandemic had widespread social and economic impacts, and these stressors may have motivated intimate partner violence (IPV) during this timeframe. The present study takes a strain-theoretic approach to this topic, drawing on recent survey data from the United States ( n = 1,195; 54 who reported physical IPV perpetration) to examine the extent to which social isolation and financial hardship were associated with physical IPV perpetration during the first year of the pandemic. We used multivariable logistic regression to estimate the association between these risk factors and the probability of self-reported physical IPV perpetration. Next, we employed the Karlson, Holm, Breen method to estimate whether these associations were mediated by negative emotional affect. We found both social isolation and financial hardship to be associated with increased risk of IPV perpetration. Adjusting for other social and demographic factors, a unit increase in social isolation was associated with a 118% increase in odds of IPV perpetration, (logit coefficient = 0.78, odds ratio = 2.18, z = 2.79; p = .005), while a unit increase in financial hardship was associated with a 167% increase in odds of IPV perpetration (logit coefficient = 0.98, odds ratio = 2.67, z = 5.61, p < .001). Substantial portions of both associations were mediated by negative emotional affect, particularly anger. These findings suggest that General Strain Theory is a useful lens for understanding how the social and economic consequences of the pandemic mattered for IPV. Efforts to mitigate IPV, particularly in the wake of similar societal crises, may benefit from a focus on social, economic, and mental health support for vulnerable populations.

  PublisherDOI

• Congregations in Context: Clarifying the Religious Ecology of Crime

  Sociological Quarterly · 2025-04-17

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Deciding for Her: Religio-Political Conservatism, Christian Nationalism, and Public Opposition to Legal Abortion Across Circumstances

  Sociological Quarterly · 2025-12-22 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Risk of adolescent cigarette use in three UK birth cohorts before and after e-cigarettes

  Tobacco Control · 2025-07-29 · 8 citations

  articleOpen access

  OBJECTIVE: Longitudinal data from three UK birth cohorts (born in 1958, 1970 and 2001) were used to (1) document the historic decline in adolescent cigarette smoking; (2) examine how e-cigarette use is associated with adolescent cigarette smoking in the most recent cohort; and (3) compare probabilities of cigarette smoking across the cohorts. METHODS: The prevalence of adolescent cigarette smoking was assessed in 1974 from 11 969 youth in the National Child Development Study (NCDS), in 1986 from 6222 youth in the British Cohort Study (BCS), and in 2018 from 9733 youth in the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). Logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds of adolescent smoking (ages 16-17) based on a common set of childhood risk and protective factors; adolescent e-cigarette use was included as a predictor in the more recent MCS. RESULTS: Adolescent cigarette smoking declined from 33% in 1974 to 25% in 1986 and to 12% in 2018. 11% of MCS youth reported current e-cigarette use. Though childhood risk factors for later adolescent smoking were mostly similar across the three cohorts, the risk of cigarette smoking in the MCS varied greatly by e-cigarette use. Among MCS youth, the average predicted probability of smoking ranged from 1% among e-cigarette naïve youth to 33% among youth currently using e-cigarettes. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents who use e-cigarettes have a similar smoking prevalence to earlier generations. Policy and prevention should seek to prevent adolescent nicotine exposure via both electronic and combustible cigarettes.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Lay down your sword? Christian nationalism, race, and opposition to requiring gun permits

  Ethnic and Racial Studies · 2024-07-05 · 17 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Christian nationalism and race are both important predictors of firearm policy preferences in the United States, and a growing body of research argues that ideas about gun control tend to be racially coded. Building on these findings, we use data from the 2021 General Social Survey to examine how race and ethnicity moderate the association between Christian nationalism and firearm policy preferences – specifically requiring a police permit to purchase a gun. Analyses show strong, racially divergent associations between Christian nationalism and opposition to requiring gun permits. Christian nationalism is associated with higher opposition to requiring gun permits for non-Hispanic White Americans, but lower opposition for non-Hispanic Black Americans. Moreover, accounting for biblical literalism attenuates the association for White Americans but amplifies the association for Black Americans. These findings support the conceptualization of Christian nationalism as a racialized ideology, i.e. one which has different meanings and effects across ethno-racial identities.

  PublisherDOI

• Colorblind Cops in Christian America: Christian Nationalism, Race, Politics, and Beliefs About Racist Policing

  Sociological Quarterly · 2024-12-09 · 14 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Michael Burnham

  4 shared

• Kayla Kahn

  4 shared

• Jeremy Seeman

  4 shared

• Ray Block

  Pennsylvania State University

  4 shared

• Corina Graif

  Pennsylvania State University

  2 shared

• Aria Khademi

  2 shared

• Samuel L. Perry

  University of Oklahoma

  2 shared

• Rachel X. Peng

  2 shared