Abstract: 431 Chinese elite winter sports athletes from 15 disciplines were investigated in terms of the profile of their family socioeconomic status(SES), as well as the relationship between family SES and athletes' sport levels, gender and regions, so as to examine the significance of family socio-ecological factors in the success of elite winter sports athletes. It was found that, the majority of the athletes(99.53%) in this survey came from middle-and low-level SES families; the athletes of master levels and above had significantly higher SES than the ones below first levels(P<0.05); the male athletes had slightly higher SES than female athletes without significance; the parents' educational level scores were relatively low, 76.8% mothers and 76.3% fathers reported an academic degree of below high school, most parents' occupation types were individual businessmen and farmers. The SES scores of athletes in the southwestern regions were significantly lower than those of other regions(P<0.05); the parents in the northeastern regions reported significantly higher educational levels than those in the southwest and eastern regions(P<0.05). Most athletes(82.4%) reported the most supports from their parents were emotion and spirit, and the athletes with higher sport levels reported more supports from parents(P<0.05). Male athletes had significantly greater supports than those of female athletes, especially in economical investments(P<0.05); the parents in the northeastern regions had the highest level of supports(P<0.05). The results suggested that, the family SES of Chinese elite winter sports athletes had the characteristics of “not high overall, higher in the northeast but lower in the southwest”. SES and the supports from parents were related to regions, gender, and sport levels. Therefore,the family factors should be considered in the selection of elite athletes and improvement of their competitive ability, so as to ensure the elite athletes can concentrate on the preparation of competitions.