TO TEST HYPOTHESES RELATED TO THE CREATIVE THINKING OF CHILDREN FROM DIFFERENT SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUNDS, TESTS OF CREATIVITY AND OF INTELLIGENCE WERE ADMINISTERED TO 722 FIRST, THIRD, AND FIFTH GRADE CHILDREN FROM DIFFERENT SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUNDS. CHILDREN OF EACH SEX IN EACH GRADE WERE TESTED FOR VERBAL INTELLIGENCE (AS MEASURED BY THE PEABODY PICTURE VOCABULARY TEST), AND CREATIVITY (AS MEASURED BY THE TORRANCE TESTS OF CREATIVE THINKING, FIGURAL FORM A AND VERBAL FORM B). THE TORRANCE TEST SCORES HAD GREATEST RELATIONSHIP TO THE COMBINED INDEPENDENT VARIABLES (SEX, INTELLIGENCE, AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC BACKGROUND) AT THE EARLIEST YEARS OF SCHOOL. THESE RELATIONSHIPS DECREASED AS THE AGE AND THE GRADE LEVEL OF CHILDREN INCREASED. WHILE SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIPS WERE FOUND BETWEEN SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS AND CREATIVITY WHEN OTHER VARIABLES WERE HELD CONSTANT, THESE RELATIONSHIPS DID NOT FOLLOW A CONSISTENT PATTERN. THE INCIDENCE OF THESE SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIPS TENDED TO DECREASE WITH INCREASING AGE AND GRADE LEVEL. THESE FINDINGS INDICATED THAT THE TORRANCE TEST MATERIALS WERE RELATIVELY NEUTRAL TOWARD DIFFERENT SOCIO-ECONOMIC CLASSES. SCORES WERE COMPLETELY UNCORRELATED WITH INTELLIGENCE TESTS, CONFIRMING THE IMPORTANCE OF EMPHASIZING CREATIVITY AS A SEPARATE DIMENSION OF THINKING. (AUTHOR)