本文的主要目的係在探討老人接受朋友協助的情形，及影響朋友支持功能之因素。資料的蒐集方式為面訪問卷調查法，計有382名老人為樣本，統計分析是以迴歸分析和邏輯迴歸分析為主。實證研究的主題有下列三項：（一）老人從朋友獲得協助的情形；（二）老人朋友網絡規模及網絡特性；（三）老人的個人特質、情境特性、朋友網絡規模及網絡特性如何影響老人朋友之支持功能。 首先，老人從朋友獲得的協助主要是「情感性的支持」居多，其次是情緒上訊息的支持(含訊息提供及忠告建議);至於工具性的實質協助則較少。其次老人有無親近朋友?三分之二強的受訪老人回答有親近朋友，每位老人平均有兩位親近朋友，每位親近朋友認識期間平均長達35.2年;而朋友的關係類型以同事居首，其次是鄰居。此外，老人的親近朋友中有五成多住在同一鄉鎮市區;另近四成五的老人與親近朋友每週至少聯絡一次。 研究結果所獲致之初步結論有下列兩項：（一）對所有受訪老人，親近朋友網絡規模(有無親近朋友)影響其獲得協助的情形甚鉅，但對那些有親近朋友者，朋友網絡特性之影響效果似乎會較網絡規模為大，也就是說老人有親近朋友是其獲得支持的必要條件，但老人和親近朋友交往的情形(譬如聯繫強度和地理鄰近性)，才是影響獲得協助的關鍵性因素。（二）都市老人比鄉村老人獲得朋友各類協助的可能性均較小，這指陳出老人所處的外在社會情境（如居住地區都市化的程度），也會影響朋友的支持功能，本文最後並針對研究發現提出社會工作實務及未來研究方向的建議。

　　　　　The purpose of this paper is to examine the support function of friends network for older people. The focus is to understand the assistance that older people received from friends, to analyze the characteristics of friends support network, and furthermore to examine the factors that will affect support function of friend network. An interview survey of 382 older people was conducted to collect data. The conclusion can be drawn from the Findings. First, Two-thirds of the respondents reported to have close friends. Among 260 respondents who reported have close friends, every respondent has two close friends in average, and they know each close friend for 35 years. The friendship is mostly derived from colleagues. In addition, half of close friends live in the same township as the respondent live. Secondly, the types of assistance that older people received from friends are mainly affectionate, emotional/information support. Thirdly, older people living in urban areas receive less assistance from friends than their counterparts living in rural areas. The finding supports the predictions generated from "Social Disorganization Theory". Fourthly, the proximity and strong tie of network members are positively related to support function. Finally, practice implications and further research directions are discussed.