Objective To explore the relationship between self-management behaviors and family function among elderly pa-tients with diabetes in community in order to provide evidence for community nursing of diabetes.Methods A total of 670 elderly patients with diabetes were selected with convenience sampling household survey method and investigated with the family Adapta-tion,Partnership,Growth,Affection,and Resolve(APGAR)and the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities(SDSCA).Results The family functions total score of the elderly patients with diabetes in community was (6.95±2.91),the self-management behav-iors total score was (20.06±5.80),among the self-management behaviors the score for exercise was the highest and blood glucose monitoring was the lowest;family function had remarkable positive relation with the total score of self-management behaviors a-mong elderly patients with diabetes in community(r=0.156,P <0.05).Conclusion There is a correlation between the self-man-agement behaviors and family function,good family function is conducive to the improvement of self-management behaviors for the elderly patients with diabetes.