Solid polymers exhibit rate-dependent deformation behavior such as nonlinear strain rate sensitivity and stress relaxation like metallic materials. Despite the different microstructures of polymeric and metallic materials, they have common properties with respect to inelastic deformation. Unlike most metallic materials, solid polymers and shape memory alloys (SMAs) exhibit highly nonlinear stress-strain behavior upon unloading. The present work employs the viscoplasticity theory [K. Ho, 2011, Trans. Mater. Process. 20, 350-356] developed for the pseudoelastic behavior of SMAs, which is based on unified state variable theory for the rate-dependent inelastic deformation behavior of typical metallic materials, to depict the curved unloading behavior of polyphenylene oxide (PPO). The constitutive equations are characterized by the evolution laws of two state variables that are related to the elastic modulus and the back stress. The simulation results are compared with the experimental data obtained by Krempl and Khan [2003, Int. J. Plasticity 19, 1069-1095].