The purposes of this study were to examine the relationships among creativity, motivational orientation, and perceived parenting style in gifted and nongifted adolescents; to compare gifted and nongifted adolescents in creativity, motivational orientation, and perceived parenting style; and to establish preliminary validation for the Perceptions of Parenting Scale (POPS). The Multidimensional Stimulus Fluency Measure (MSFM), the Student Self-Evaluation of Creativity (SSEC), the Scale of Intrinsic Versus Extrinsic Orientation in the Classroom (IEOS), the Cornell Socialization Inventory (CSI), and the POPS were administered to 37 gifted and 57 nongifted sixth- through twelfth-grade students. IQ scores were obtained from school records. Results indicated a positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and self-reports of creativity. For the gifted, self-reports of creativity correlated positively with original fluency on the MSFM, and IQ was positively related to maternal negative affect and general control in the preschool and primary years. IQ was negatively related to maternal deprivation of privileges in the nongifted. For the nongifted, IEOS scores were negatively related to maternal control through reward in the preschool and primary years. For the gifted, IEOS scores were positively related to maternal consistency, confidence in child, and past autonomy. Self-reports of creativity correlated positively with maternal confidence in child. For the gifted, SSEC scores correlated positively with maternal consistency and with paternal and maternal allowance of autonomy. SSEC scores correlated negatively with maternal reward for the gifted. Several POPS scales correlated highly with the CSI factors. Chi-square results indicated that gifted students were more intrinsically motivated than nongifted students. MANOVA and t-test results revealed that gifted students scored higher than nongifted students on measures of IQ, self-reports of creativity, intrinsic motivation, paternal achievement demands, and past and present paternal and past maternal negative affect; nongifted students scored higher than gifted students on measures of perceived paternal indulgence and maternal instrumental companionship; females rated their mothers as higher than males in present negative affect, past affective companionship, and past and present control; and high school students reported greater past paternal control and punishment than did middle school students. / Ph. D.