Abstract
A sample survey of 398 married women under 60 years of age was conducted in Okayama city in 1993. Analysis of their network ties has revealed the following; they were tied to 1.03 family members and 6.02 people outside their family on the average through receiving material and emotional support. Kinship and friendship were the principle sources of these ties. Their primary ties tended to form sparsely knit, spatially dispersed, ramifying structures. They maintained contact both by telephone and in person, at a wide range of time intervals. They thought family members and relatives to be the closest, and friends were closer than neighbours and workmates. Help in dealing with various matters was available from different kinds of their primary ties.
