Results of a comparative study of executive function development in young children reared in baby homes and biological families are presented. Research data reveal reduced performance on measures of executive function in children from institutional care in comparison with a group of peers from biological families. The mean composite z-score for the group of children from baby homes was significantly low. Dramatic group differences were obtained on a "hot" executive function task with involvement of affective components of cognitive processes: among the institutionalized group, severely impaired ability of inhibitory control was registered. Overall, research data reveal exposure to adverse conditions of institutional care is associated with specific deficits in executive function performance and promote diverse trajectories of early executive functioning in young children reared in different social environments.