Objective   To study the status of toddlers' social-emotional development and family nurture environment in urban areas of Shanghai, and explore the correlation between them to establish early promotion and intervention strategies for toddlers based on family nurture environment. Methods   The investigated sites including 4 community healthcare centers were selected by stratified cluster random sampling method and 945 children aged 12-36 months from Shanghai urban areas were enrolled. The toddlers were grouped into 4 age groups(12-17, 18-23, 24-29, 30-36 months). The status of social-emotional development and family nurture environment in toddlers were investigated by Chinese version of Urban Infant Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment(CITSEA), child home nurture environment questionnaire and self-designed sociodemographic questionnaire. Results   The detection rates of poor social-emotional development and adverse family nurture environment were 24.44% and 6.03% respectively in urban areas of Shanghai. Toddlers aged 12-17 months had lower social-emotional competence score and higher detection rate of adverse family nurture environment（P<0.01）. The toddlers in adverse family nurture environment had higher scores for externalizing, internalizing and deregulation domains and lower scores for competence domain than those in good family nurture environment（P<0.05）. The general family nurture environment was influenced by family background factors, including parents' age, monthly household income, living area, parents' education levels, parents' occupation and maternal postpartum mental state. Conclusion   The detection rate of poor social-emotional development is high in urban areas of Shanghai. Adverse family nurture environment has a significant impact on toddlers' social-emotional development. Creating a good family nurture environment is a reliable and effective way to promote early social-emotional development in toddlers.