A study tested the cumulative acquisition model proposed by S. H. Chaffee and A. R. Tims to explain the development of adolescent patterns of news media use. The Guttman scale procedure was used to analyze patterns of news media use across a three-wave panel survey of 366 parent-child pairs over a 2-year period. In each wave, interviewers talked first to the child, then to the parent concerning a wide range of topics dealing with the 1980 presidential campaign, perceptions of the candidates, attitudes toward the government and social institutions, interpersonal communication about politics, mass media usage, partisan political orientations, political beliefs, and social values. Longitudinal patterns of news media use showed that the only evidence of a cumulative growth in usage was for children in the fourth through sixth grades at the outset of the study. The developmental patterns were not consistent with the requirements of a Guttman scale at two of the three measurement points. Generally, television news exposure did not emerge prior to the regular use of print media, and the acquisition of print media use did not take place at the expense of television news viewing. This pattern is substantially consistent with the notion of a cumulative process. (Author/FL)