diff --git a/Lib/test/test_threading.py b/Lib/test/test_threading.py
index c13d1bd0f81efb..c4cf3e6a14a61c 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_threading.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_threading.py
@@ -1192,11 +1192,12 @@ def f():
             resource.setrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_NPROC, (0, hard))
 
             try:
-                _thread.start_new_thread(f, ())
+                handle = _thread.start_joinable_thread(f)
             except RuntimeError:
                 print('ok')
             else:
                 print('!skip!')
+                handle.join()
         """
         _, out, err = assert_python_ok("-u", "-c", code)
         out = out.strip()