Abstract
Out of 1039 Senegalese students of the secondary cycle who answered our questionnaire, 47% made clear they wished to live in town, while 49% would rather live in the country. Reasons put forward for their choices for living in town were either material (56 6% of those who made that choice believed that: living conditions were better in town, there were more schools, more pastimes, less unemployment, etc.) or socio-cultural (32.7% held that urban civilization was more advanced with more frequent and heated debates and more freedom, etc.) or still it was a matter of habit (9%: I've always lived in town, I've got used to it, etc.). The reasons in favour of the country stressed the ecological aspects of the question (39.2% mentioned calm, quietness, lack of pollution, etc.), material aspects (17%: life is not expensive, etc.), habit (6.9%: my parents live there, etc.), and some moral and philosophical advantages (34.1%: solidarity, brotherhood, hospitality, simplicity, respect for traditions). The influence of variables of sex, housing, age, and socioeconomic status of subjects' fathers on the choices and motivations of subjects were also discussed.
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