The theoretically expected network chain-length distribution for networks where the cross-link points are randomly distributed in the bulk of the material would contain a significant fraction of network chains which are much shorter than the average chain length. The contribution of these very short chains to the stress born by a network is an important consideration in chemical stress relaxation studies. It is proposed that by use of a gamma distribution function as a “functional” network chain-length distribution, the effect of such short network chains might be taken into account in deriving stress-time expressions for chemical stress relaxation studies. While this procedure yields a simple expression for the fractional residual stress at a given extent of scission, the error involved in neglecting the effect of the chain-length distribution appears to be small.