Objective To investigate the status quo of nurse-to-nurse lateral violence （LV） and nurses′ perceived managerial caring from head nurses in general hospitals, and to analyze the influence of nurses′ perception of head nurses′ managerial caring on nurse-to-nurse LV. Methods Clinical nurses were conveniently selected from six general hospitals in Hubei province, and a cross-sectional survey was conducted by using the general demographic questionnaire, the Caring Assessment Tool-administration, and the Ne-gative Acts Questionnaire. Results A total of 1 905 valid questionnaires were collected.Of the 1 905 participants, 59.11% （1 126/1 905） reported they had experienced LV at least once in the past 6 months.The median total score of nurse-to-nurse LV was 20 （IQR:19-26） points, and the total score of nurses′ perceived managerial caring from head nurses averaged （147.24±25.78） points.Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that high level of shared decision making, and moderate to high levels of respect were protective factors of nurse-to-nurse LV, while moderate to high levels of non-caring were risk factors （all P＜0.05）. Conclusion Nurse-to-nurse LV is common.Nurses perceive high level of managerial caring from head nurses.Head nurses′ caring for nurses is a protective factor for nurse-to-nurse LV.Nursing managers are recommended to reduce the prevalence of nurse-to-nurse LV by increasing their caring for nurses.