Story highlights Studies show that character traits, like anxiety and extroversion, vary from one state to another

A study found that residents of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic are more anxious in their romantic relationships

When people move across state lines, they usually think about what their new place will be like, their new neighbors, their new town -- in short, all the other changes that come with a change of address. But what most people don't consider is the way that the move will change them, too.

Studies show that character traits, like anxiety and extroversion, vary from one state to another. There's not only a New York state of mind; there's also a Montana mentality and an Idaho id. But what does that mean for someone who's spent much of their life bopping from place to place (like, say, this writer, who's spent chunks of her life in both New York and Tennessee)? Can we transport an intact personality from place to place, like a piece of furniture? Or does each new move add a fresh coat of paint?

To set the stakes, it helps to understand which personality traits are more prevalent in different parts of the country. So far, several studies have zeroed in on different aspects of how people approach interpersonal relationships; a paper in the Journal of Research in Personality's February issue, for example, outlines state-based differences in attitudes about romantic relationships.

New Yorkers should brace themselves for the results: From a survey of more than 127,000 adults, the study authors found that citizens of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic are, on average, more anxious in their romantic relationships than West Coast dwellers.

Utah, meanwhile, has one of the least anxious and most relationship-inclined populaces in the country, despite a trend in other mountain states to be less interested than average in forming romantic relationships.