| For a level scheme investigation of ^{142}Gd an experiment with the $\gamma$-spectrometer EUROBALLIII has been carried out and lifetimes have been measured with EUROBALL IV using the Doppler-shift attenuation method. The high-spin states have been populated in these experiments by means of the ^{99}Ru(^{48}Ti, 2p3n) reaction at a beam energy of 240MeV and the ^{114}Sn(^{32}S, 2p2n) reaction at 160MeV, respectively. Reduced E2 transition probabilities B(E2) were determined for 15 members of four quadrupole bands. For the interpretation of the positive-parity even-spin quadrupole bands, calculations in the cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky as well as interacting boson models have been performed. From the former calculations it was concluded that the high-spin states of the (+ , 0)_{1} band in ^{142}Gd represent a triaxial nucleus rotating around the longest principal axis. |