Term or permanent life insurance? A new study offers guidance

56% of Americans not adequately prepared for death of income earner

Ohio State University

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study offers clarity on one of the most common questions asked of financial professionals: Is term or permanent life insurance right for me?

Researchers at The Ohio State University conducted a study of how different life insurance product types were related to whether households had adequate financial resources if an income earner died.

They didn’t compare permanent and term life insurance directly, but they calculated how likely households with different life insurance products were financially prepared compared to those with no insurance.

The result? Households with both term and permanent life insurance policies were most likely to be ready for income loss after an unexpected death, when compared to those with no insurance.

“There’s a lot of debate in the financial adviser community on whether permanent life insurance or term life insurance is the best tool to protect consumers,” said study co-author Eric Olsen, who did the work while earning his PhD in family resource management at Ohio State.

“Our study suggests having both of them might be ideal for many people.”

Co-author Cäzilia Loibl, professor and chair of consumer sciences at Ohio State, said the results show the value of each type of life insurance product.

“The discussion is often one versus the other, but they have some different purposes and can work well together,” Loibl said.

The most concerning finding was that 56% of the sample did not have adequate financial resources – from insurance or other sources – to deal with the loss of an income earner, Olsen said.

“We need to examine how we can motivate families to build the resources they need to protect themselves in case of the death of an income earner,” he said. “Way too many people aren’t prepared.”

The study was published online recently in the journal Financial Planning Review. The research was led by Youngwon Nam, who did the work while earning her PhD at Ohio State, and who is now an associate professor of consumer science at Seoul National University in Korea. Robert Scharff, professor of consumer sciences at Ohio State, was also a co-author.

Consumers are often confused about differences between term and permanent life insurance, the researchers said. Term life insurance is often cheaper and covers people for a set period of time. Permanent life insurance (also known as cash value life insurance), which includes whole life, universal life and variable life, among others, is more expensive, but lasts for a whole lifetime and includes an investment component.

The researchers used data from the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, conducted by the Federal Reserve Board. This study only included households with more than one person, with at least one being employed full-time. The final sample was 1,818 households.

In this sample, 54% had term life insurance, 8% had permanent life insurance, and 10% had both.

The study was designed to examine financial adequacy: the ability of households to replace the income lost if an income earner died.  Researchers measured financial adequacy three different ways.

Households had life insurance adequacy if their life insurance payout alone could replace lost income; net financial assets adequacy meant assets like savings, stocks, and retirement accounts (minus liabilities) plus life insurance payout could replace income; and net worth adequacy included financial assets and non-financial assets, such as houses and property, (minus liabilities) plus life insurance pay

The findings showed 11% of the sample had financial adequacy with life insurance alone, 17% had net financial asset adequacy and 16% had net worth adequacy

So how did the different types of life insurance products compare in helping achieve financial adequacy?

In one analysis, the researchers examined the financial adequacy of households under the net financial asset adequacy scenario.

In this case, households that had both term and permanent life insurance had a 5.58 times higher likelihood of being financially prepared for the death of an income earner than a household with no life insurance.

A household with only term life insurance had a 3.95 times higher likelihood of financial adequacy, and a household with only permanent life insurance had a 3.01 times higher likelihood of financial adequacy.

The results were similar when the researchers looked at how prepared households were under the life insurance adequacy and net worth adequacy scenarios.

Overall, the findings make clear that people need to check to make sure that they have enough life insurance coverage, because most don’t, Loibl said.

And while any kind of insurance is better than none, this study suggests having both term and permanent life insurance may be a strong option for many.

“What kind of life insurance you have does matter in the long term and people need to determine what is best for their situation,” she said.

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Journal

Financial Planning Review

DOI

10.1002/cfp2.70000 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Life Insurance Product Type, Financial Knowledge, and Financial Adequacy

 

Nurturing now, thriving later: The lasting power of affectionate mothering

Twin study demonstrates long-term impact of childhood warmth on personality traits, life outcomes

American Psychological Association

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Affectionate mothering in childhood may have a lasting impact on important personality traits, potentially influencing life outcomes such as educational achievement, economic success, and health and well-being, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. The findings suggest that positive maternal parenting could foster important traits such as openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness.

“Personality traits are strong predictors of important life outcomes, from academic and career success to health and well-being,” said Jasmin Wertz, PhD, lead author of the study and a professor of psychology at the University of Edinburgh. “Our findings suggest that fostering positive parenting environments in early childhood could have a small but significant and lasting impact on the development of these crucial personality traits.”

Wertz and her colleagues examined how maternal affection during childhood—specifically between the ages of 5 and 10—predicted the Big Five personality traits at age 18. The Big Five personality traits are viewed by personality psychologists as the five basic dimensions of human personality: extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness and neuroticism, or emotional stability.

The research was published in the journal American Psychologist.

Researchers examined data from 2,232 British identical twins (51.1% female) who were followed from birth through age 18 as part of the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twins Study. Studying identical twins allows researchers to control for genetic and environmental factors by comparing identical twins who grew up in the same family. During the study, researchers conducted home visits with the twins’ mothers and recorded them talking about each of their children. Trained observers then rated the mothers’ responses for warmth and affection.

Twins whose mothers expressed more warmth toward them in childhood were rated as more open, conscientious and agreeable as young adults. 

The results offer evidence that positive, affectionate mothering can affect key personality traits that are linked to success later in life, and these influences could have an impact across generations, said Wertz. The researchers note that even modest changes in personality could lead to significant population-wide benefits over time, particularly in promoting conscientiousness, which is strongly associated with success in education, work and health.

Researchers found no lasting associations between maternal affection and extraversion or neuroticism. These findings suggest that other environmental or genetic factors—such as peer relationships, life experiences, and perhaps later interventions—may be more influential for these in adulthood.

The findings also underscore the importance of considering both genetic and environmental factors when designing programs aimed at promoting positive personality traits, according to Wertz.

“This research provides valuable evidence for the potential of parenting programs to influence critical aspects of personality development,” she said. “However, it also highlights the need for a nuanced understanding of how different factors, including genetics, parenting and life experiences, interact to shape who we are.”

Wertz believes the research provides important practical considerations for policymakers and practitioners working in education, family welfare and mental health. Given that conscientiousness may predict success in school and the workplace, interventions designed to enhance affectionate parenting could contribute to improving educational outcomes, mental health and social well-being on a broader scale. 

“There are many proven ways to support parents, such as policies that improve a family’s financial situation; access to treatment for parents who struggle with mental health problems such as depression; and parenting programs that help parents build stronger relationships with their children,” she said.

The research also sheds light on the possibility of developing parental training models to address inequalities in personality development. “By targeting parenting practices that promote positive traits in childhood, it may be possible to reduce disparities in life outcomes associated with socioeconomic background, family dynamics and other environmental factors,” Wertz said.

Article: “Parenting in Childhood Predicts Personality in Early Adulthood: A Longitudinal Twin-Differences Study,” by Jasmin Wertz, PhD, University of Edinburgh; Terrie Moffitt, PhD, and Avshalom Caspi, PhD, Duke University; Flora Blangis, PhD, Louise Arseneault, PhD, Andrea Danese, PhD, and Helen Fisher, PhD, King’s College London; and Antony Ambler, MSc, University of Otago. American Psychologist, published online April 17, 2025.

Contact: Jasmin Wertz, PhD, can be contacted by email at jasmin.wertz@ed.ac.uk. 

The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA’s membership includes  173,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve lives.

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Journal

American Psychologist

DOI

10.1037/amp0001508 

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Parenting in Childhood Predicts Personality in Early Adulthood: A Longitudinal Twin-Differences Study

Article Publication Date

17-Apr-2025

 

Hengshui’s “zero-waste city” initiative demonstrates synergistic pollution reduction and climate action through agricultural waste innovation

Tsinghua University Press

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image: 

The diagram illustrates the closed-loop system converting agricultural waste into biogas, electricity, heat, and fertilizer.

 

view more 

Credit: Circular Economy

The full paper, titled Ecological Circular Disposal of Agricultural Waste: Integrated Production of Gas, Electricity, Heat, and Fertilizer for Achieving Synergistic Effects of Pollution Reduction and Carbon Emission Reduction, was published on March 18, 2025, in Circular Economy.

 

Key Innovations and Findings

The study focuses on Hengshui City, a national pilot for China’s “zero-waste city” initiative, which generates 4 million tons of livestock manure annually. By carrying out the construction of the “zero- waste city”, improving the technical system, institutional system, and market system for solid waste from agricultural sources, and adopting advanced anaerobic digestion technology, the city has established a circular model that integrates biogas production, electricity generation, heat recovery, and organic fertilizer manufacturing. Key outcomes include:

1. Annual GHG Reduction: The project of combined production of gas, electricity, heat and fertilizer in Anping County, Hengshui City reduces the local greenhouse gas emissions by 87,208.5 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent every year. This is mainly achieved by carrying out the resource utilization of manure, reducing the methane emissions from manure management and replacing the use of fossil fuels.
2. Economic Growth: Since 2020, driven by the construction of Hengshui’s “zero-waste city”, the utilization rate of agricultural waste has increased to over 90%. The regional gross domestic product has increased by 21%, and the fixed-asset investment in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery has increased by more than 15%.
3. Policy Synergy: The “1+N+13” institutional framework for the construction of the “zero-waste city” has been established. By combining centralized planning with localized solutions, it has promoted sustainable biogas projects and cross-sectoral cooperation.

Dr. Wang Zhihua from the Research Institute for Environmental Innovation (Suzhou), Tsinghua, who is also the first author of this article, said that this study tried to conduct a reduction in pollution and carbon emissions analysis of the Hengshui “zero-waste city” construction based on the DPSIR model from 2020 to 2023. Under the background of “zero-waste city” Construction in China, the case study is very essential for understanding the details and major implication of the policy. It can provide some useful information for effective management of livestock and poultry manure waste.

 

Methodology and Analysis

In this study, based on the “driving force-pressure-state-impact-response” (DPSIR) model, an analysis of pollution and carbon emission reduction in the construction of Hengshui’s “zero-waste city” was carried out. From the three dimensions of economy, environment and society, 19 indicators were selected for evaluation. Moreover, the entropy weight-technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) method was used to standardize the data from 2020 to 2023, quantifying the impacts of factors such as the growth of gross domestic product (GDP), the scale of livestock farming, and the growth rate of fixed asset investment in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery. In addition, the study adopted the approved Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) method (AMS.Ⅲ.D.ver.21) to analyze the greenhouse gas emission reduction effect of the comprehensive biogas utilization project in Anping County, Hengshui City. The results show that:

(1) Core Drivers: The driving factors for pollution and carbon emission reduction in the agricultural sector during the construction of Hengshui’s “zero-waste city” mainly include economic and social development, the employment situation of residents, as well as social response factors such as fixed asset investment in agriculture and the construction of standardized and large-scale breeding and livestock facilities. A large amount of agricultural waste in Hengshui and the environmental governance pressure brought about by air pollution control seriously restrict the work of pollution and carbon emission reduction in the construction of Hengshui’s “zero-waste city”.

(2) Emission Hotspots: The implementation of the project of co-production of “gas, electricity, heat and fertilizer” can effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 87,208.5 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, with a reduction rate of over 64%. The emission reduction amount of this model is significantly affected by three factors: biogas leakage, emissions during the storage of livestock and poultry manure, and emissions generated during equipment operation. Among them, the emissions during the storage of livestock and poultry manure have the greatest impact on the emission reduction amount, accounting for 59% of the emissions after the implementation of the biogas project.

(3) Comprehensive Efficiency: Using the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) method, the comprehensive evaluation index of pollution and carbon emission reduction in the agricultural sector during the construction of Hengshui’s “zero-waste city” from 2020 to 2023 was calculated. The results show that the comprehensive evaluation index of pollution and carbon emission reduction in the agricultural sector during the construction of Hengshui’s “zero-waste city” has been increasing year by year from 2020 to 2023, with an 87% growth in 2023 compared to 2020. This indicates that remarkable achievements have been made in pollution and carbon emission reduction during the construction of Hengshui’s “zero-waste city”

Challenges and Global Implications

While the model succeeds in reducing emissions, challenges persist. Dr. Lyu Pu, the corresponding author of the paper and an environmental policy expert, pointed out that, “Nutrient runoff from biogas-derived fertilizers risks eutrophication if mismanaged. Precision application and monitoring are critical.”

This study emphasizes the role that the circular economy plays in achieving the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. Through the ecological circular model of combined production of gas, electricity, heat, and fertilizer, Hengshui has created green jobs. It has reduced the use of chemicals by replacing synthetic fertilizers with organic ones, and has decreased the use of fossil energy by incorporating biomethane into the natural gas network.

Globally, the findings align with circular economy strategies in the EU, Japan, and Singapore. For instance, Surrey, Canada, uses similar anaerobic digesters to power municipal fleets, while Thailand’s “3Rs” policy (reduce, reuse, recycle) mirrors Hengshui’s approach.

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About Circular Economy

Circular Economy (CE) is an international fully open-access journal co-published by Tsinghua University Press and Elsevier and academically supported by the School of Environment, Tsinghua University. It serves as a sharing and communication platform for novel contributions and outcomes on innovative techniques, systematic analysis, and policy tools of global, regional, national, local, and industrial park's waste management system to improve the reduce, reuse, recycle, and disposal of waste in a sustainable way. It has been indexed by Ei Compendex, Scopus, Inspec, CAS, and DOAJ. At its discretion, Tsinghua University Press will pay the Open Access Fee for all published papers from 2022 to 2026.

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Journal

Circular Economy

DOI

10.1016/j.cec.2025.100130 

Article Title

Hengshui’s “Zero-waste City” Initiative Demonstrates Synergistic Pollution Reduction and Climate Action Through Agricultural Waste Innovation

 

Nature-based activity is effective therapy for anxiety and depression, study shows

University of York

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Researchers evaluating a nature-based programme of activities for patients with mild to moderate mental health conditions have shown that improvements in mood and anxiety levels can be seen in as little as 12 weeks. 

As part of the UK government’s commitment to transform mental health services, seven ‘test and learn’ green social prescribing sites were identified across England, which included a programme in Humber and North Yorkshire - the first of the seven sites to publish results from the national programme. 

Green social prescribing is a practice whereby a healthcare professional refers a patient to community-based nature activities to help improve health and wellbeing beyond medical treatments. Currently these programmes are in a testing phase, but evidence is now pointing to the need for investment in this area to make it an additional option for patients across the country.

More than 220 participants from across Humber and North Yorkshire were included in the programme, and their mental health status was evaluated before and after exposure to an organised programme of nature-based activities, such as horticultural and care farming, sport and exercise, and outdoor mindfulness and craft-based activities.

The majority of participants took part in the programme weekly between one and four weeks, five to eight weeks, and others between nine and 12 weeks.  The team used the Office of National Statistics  measures of personal well-being, as well as the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) to understand if participants had made improvements.

Across the board, participants reported improvements in wellbeing and mental health. But participants  who took part in longer programmes - typically nine to 12 week - or took part in activities related to horticulture and care farming, showed greater improvements in mood and anxiety levels compared with those involved in shorter programmes - one to four weeks - or in activities such as outdoor crafts, creative and mindfulness-based sessions, or sport and exercise.

The signs of improvement were similar to those seen in short-term cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), where someone might meet one-to-one with a therapist over a period ranging from six weeks to a year or more 

Professor Peter Coventry, from the University of York’s Department of Health Sciences, said: “We have known for some time that nature has a positive impact on health and wellbeing, but in more recent years, a stronger evidence-base has grown that proves this to be true for mental health in particular.

“The fact that activities such as gardening, tending allotments, and care farming had the most impact on the participants in our study, demonstrated that it is not just about being passive in nature, but connecting with it in a meaningful way.  

“There is also something to be said for connecting with nature in the company of other people who live in the same place as you.  Anxiety and depression can often be born out of loneliness and feelings of disconnectedness, so it makes sense that taking part in shared activities close to home  - especially those that involve caring for and improving your local environment - can help lift mood and reduce anxiety.”

The study showed that these positive impacts were seen in all ages, which ranged from age 18 to age 85, and across genders.  Researchers are now calling for more investment to be made to support these community activities and the employment of green social prescribers that GPs and other health and social care professionals can refer their patients to.

Trish Darcy, research associate from the University’s Mental Health and Addiction Research Group, said: “This intervention might not work for everyone, but through an initial exploratory conversation a social prescriber will discuss with a patient or user of the service if nature-based activities would be suited to them, and for that choice to happen we need more investment to support these community-based activities”. 

“In our study 65% of participants were from low socioeconomic groups and we now know that not only can it help improve their mental health, but participation was high for  horticultural based activities in particular, meaning that not only is it good for the individual, but for the local community environment too.”

The evaluation, published in the journal Health & Social Care in the Community, was conducted in partnership with The HEY Smile Foundation and NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB).

Dr Hannah Armitt a Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Lead for the Humber and North Yorkshire ‘test and learn’ programme said: “The research conducted in our region has the potential to enhance service delivery by connecting statutory services with local providers of nature based and outdoors activities. 

“It is important to evidence the potential of green space and nature to ensure clinicians and patients alike can harness the benefits of this wonderful free natural resource we have in abundance in Yorkshire and Humber.”

The study formed part of a national cross-government project on green social prescribing, managed by DEFRA with support of national partners, including Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Natural England, Sport England and National Academy for Social Prescribing.

Anthony Hurd, Humber and North Yorkshire Green Social Prescribing Programme Manager, said “This work has not only shown the positive outcomes that nature-based activities have on mental health, it has also highlighted the role that community-based organisations play in supporting the health and wellbeing of communities. 

“As healthcare begins to move more into the community, and with a focus on prevention, the community-based organisations delivering activities such as gardening, care farming and walking groups need to be recognised as key players in our national health service and be resourced appropriately.”

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Journal

Health & Social Care in the Community

 

Living fungus-based building material repairs itself for over a month

Cell Press

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Engineers have developed a building material that uses the root-like mycelium of a fungus and bacteria cells. Their results, publishing April 16 in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports Physical Science, show that this material—which is manufactured with living cells at low temperatures—is capable of self-repairing and could eventually offer a sustainable alternative for high-emission building materials like concrete. 

“Biomineralized materials do not have high enough strength to replace concrete in all applications, but we and others are working to improve their properties so they can see greater usage,” said corresponding author Chelsea Heveran, an assistant professor at Montana State University. 

Compared to other similar biomaterials, which typically are only usable for a few days or weeks, Heveran’s team’s materials—which are made using fungal mycelium and bacteria—are useful for at least a month. 

“This is exciting, because we would like for the cells to be able to perform other functions,” says Heveran.  

When the bacteria live within the material longer, their cells are able to perform several useful functions, including self-repairing when damaged and cleaning up contamination. 

Materials made from once-living organisms are beginning to enter the commercial market, but those made with organisms that are still alive have proven challenging to perfect—both because of their short viability periods and because they tend to lack the complex internal structures needed for many construction projects. 

To address these challenges, the team, led by first author Ethan Viles of Montana State University, explored using fungal mycelium as a scaffold for biomineralized materials, inspired by the fact that mycelium had previously been used as a scaffold for packaging and insulation materials. The researchers worked with the fungus species Neurospora crassa and found that it could be used to craft materials with a variety of complex architectures. 

“We learned that fungal scaffolds are quite useful for controlling the internal architecture of the material,” said Heveran. “We created internal geometries that looked like cortical bone, but moving forward, we could potentially construct other geometries too.” 

The researchers hope their new biomaterials can help replace building materials with high carbon footprints like cement, which contributes up to 8% of all carbon dioxide emissions produced from human activities. As a next step, they plan to further optimize the materials by coaxing the cells to live even longer and figuring out how to manufacture them efficiently on a larger scale. 

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This research was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation. 

Cell Reports Physical Science, Viles et al., “Mycelium as a scaffold for biomineralized engineered living materials.” https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(25)00116-X

Cell Reports Physical Science (@CellRepPhysSci), published by Cell Press, is a new broad-scope, open access journal that publishes cutting-edge research across the spectrum of the physical sciences, including chemistry, physics, materials science, energy science, engineering, and related interdisciplinary work. Visit: https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/home. To receive Cell Press media alerts, please contact press@cell.com. 

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Journal

Cell Reports Physical Science

DOI

10.1016/j.xcrp.2025.102517 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Mycelium as a scaffold for biomineralized engineered living materials

Article Publication Date

16-Apr-2025