Age and the relationship to field independence, as measured by the Embedded Figures Test (EFT), among a sample of 160 creative women was studied. Comparisons were made between the mean EFT scores of creatine women and the mean scores of a sample of women not selected for creativity and the mean scores of two samples of men. Creative women were shown to be more field independent than women not selected for creativity and as field independence as two samples of younger men. A small but significant correlation between age and field independence was found. Older women, creative or not creative, were less field independent than younger women.

The relationship between age and creativity among a sample of 271 manifestly creative women aged 23–87 years was studied. Creativity, as measured by scores on the Barron-Welsh Art Scales, showed no significant negative correlation with age. However, among a control sample of 76 women with an age range of 26–74 years, not selected for creativity, the negative correlation between age and creativity scores was statistically significant (r = -0.34, p < 0.05). The importance of selecting a homogenous sample is stressed, and questions concerning the value of creative attributes for successful aging were raised.

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