There are tons of proposed explanations. Starting with "during covid, boys were less isolated due to them socializing via computer games way more then girls". Continuing through "different body standards and societal expectations" (tho those did not changed in covid). In addition, some mental illnesses are simply genetically more prevalent in one gender then in the other.

Those are all speculations tho.

Historically, also issues like alcoholism, anorexia, drug use had different rates between genders. It is not unprecedented for one gender to be affected differently then the other.

Not all the data.

Women attempt more suicides, but men commit more suicides.

Some people say that this trend looks to be reversing in teens (girls committing more suicides) but not sure that’s already clear in the data.

Maybe a good place to start:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0...

It cites many sources including biological and social, however:

> ... we still do not really understand the causes of these differences, and comparatively little research has been done to explain them.

The most common argument I've heard is that women are more likely to seek help than men since mental health issues are more stigmatized in men.

could it be that women are more likely to seek treatment for mental illness? also to the degree that mental illnesses are gender variant, some are more pro social and less subject to stigma than others.